Intense battles rage in Syria's Aleppo after truce expired

Intense battles raged in Syria's northern city of Aleppo after a three-day truce expired Saturday without achieving its intended goals, according to pan-Arab Mayadeen TV.

The battles are concentrated at the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo, said the report, adding that airstrikes were targeting the rebel positions in eastern Aleppo.

It said that the Syrian military forces are making a progress in the Salahuddien neighborhood, southwest of the rebel-held eastern Aleppo part.

The unilateral truce, declared by Russia and Syria, aims at helping evacuate the civilians and wounded from eastern Aleppo, as well as the rebels to either go to other rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib, or surrender to the Syrian army in exchange for a presidential pardon.

The Syrian and Russian side outlined six passages out of eastern Aleppo for the civilians and two for the rebels.

However, only seven rebels managed to leave during the three days, as the government accused the ultra-radical group of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham of forcefully preventing the civilians from leaving.

The battles in Aleppo are complicated, as the province is an example of the Syrian war, where there are so many rebel groups backed by different regional and international players.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura recently proposed an evacuation of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, previously known as al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, in order for the Russian and the Syrian forces to ease their attacks on eastern Aleppo.

However, as the truce expired, the process has largely failed, leaving the city with one option, another major offensive by the Syrian army and Russia to forcefully remove the rebels from Aleppo city.

The northern countryside, however, remains another battle ground between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA).

It's worth mentioning that the United States backs both the FSA and the SDF, an example of the chaos resulted from the U.S. double standards in dealing with the Syrian crisis.

Observers believe that Aleppo is going to be the decisive battle ground among the fighting groups, and the winner will be the one dictating its conditions to resolve the crisis, as the province contains all the groups that are supported by regional and international powers, with the civilians paying the price for this proxy war. Endit