Spotlight: Aleppo battles decisive for charting future Syria

Syria's Aleppo has emerged as focus in the long-running Syria crisis, as it's an arena for wrestling for rival forces that would determine the future of the Syria, observers said.

Aleppo is a very significant area as it's once Syria's largest economic hub and near the Turkish borders, which was the main gate for the foreign rebels into Syria.

Aleppo is now a conflict zone for Turkey, the U.S.-led Kurdish forces, the Syrian army, an array of jihadi groups and last but not least the Islamic State (IS) group.

RECENT BATTLE OF AL-BAB

Al-Bab is a strategic city in northeastern countryside of Aleppo, where Turkey, the Kurds and the Syrian army are fighting to drive out the Islamic State (IS), each to achieve its own goal.

IS is desperately trying to defend its positions in al-Bab, while the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the rival Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) are racing to capture the city due it its strategic location.

The Syrian army is also eying the city to reinforce its foothold in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo.

The Syrian forces are three kilometers southeast of al-Bab and 10 kilometers from the city's northwest.

The FSA and the rebels fighting under a Turkey-backed campaign called "The Euphrates Shield" are two kilometers from the north and northwestern rim of al-Bab.

Meanwhile, the U.S.-backed SDF is eight kilometers from the north and northeastern part of the city.

The SDF and the FSA have repeatedly clashed near al-Bab, mainly in the town of Sheikh Nasser, which is so close to al-Bab.

The Turkish forces want to capture al-Bab to complete a triangle that includes the city of Jarablus, Manbej and al-Bab in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo.

Completing control of this triangle will enable the Turkish-led forces to open two roads; the first toward the al-Raqqa province, the IS de facto capital in northern Syria, while the second is toward the Khanaser road, the main government route into Aleppo, which means that they could besiege the Syrian army in Aleppo.

However, the Syrian army deemed the Turkish intervention as an occupation power that should be fought.

A couple of days ago, Turkey accused the Syrian air force of striking an area near al-Bab, killing three Turkish soldiers. Ankara further promised a payback for the killing of its soldiers.

Observers believe that if the Syrian air force was actually behind the strike, it would be a message from Damascus, which has repeatedly threatened that it will not stand indifferent about the Turkish intervention in Syria.

Analysts believe that Turkey will have to think twice before striking Syrian positions in northern Syria, as Russia has warned that its air defense systems that have recently been deployed in Syria will hit any foreign force that could attempt to target the Syrian positions.

Moscow stressed that the S300 and S400 that have been deployed in the Hmaimim airbase in the northwestern city of Latakia are ready to defend the Syrian positions.

The Turkish forces also want al-Bab to cut the road before the Kurdish groups could take over the city, as al-Bab is crucial for the SDF to link areas under the Kurdish control in northern Syria with one another.

Turkey made it clear that it will not allow the Kurds to enjoy an autonomy in northern Syria, near the Turkish borders.

But the Turkish progress through the "Euphrates Shield" forces toward al-Bab has inflamed the situation on ground in northeast Aleppo.

Pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said Friday that the Arab and Kurds fighters supported by the Syrian army are fighting to confront the Turkish infiltration.

The Syrian army and the Arab and Kurdish fighters succeeded to capture four towns near al-Bab, said the report, adding that capturing the city is of a major significance for the Syrian army, as it will break the weight of IS in northeastern Aleppo and thwart the Turkish infiltration into the city, as well as help in securing the city of Aleppo.

The Syrian army's control of al-Bab will also put an end to the Turkish plans to impose a safe zone, Ankara has for long talked about, in northern Syria.

As for IS, which is under the attack from all those groups, al-Bab is deemed as it's most important stronghold near the Turkish borders, as the city is the main conduit from which the foreign recruits are joining the terror group.

The city also links IS capital of al-Raqqa with the Turkish borders.

REBEL-HELD AREAS EAST OF ALEPPO

Aside from the battle on the IS stronghold in al-Bab, the Syrian army and an array of rebel groups, including the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the Jaish al-Fateh groups are at each other's throats, with the Syrian army determined to recapture eastern Aleppo, while the rebels insist on holding their ground and break the government forces' siege on that part of the city.

The city has been divided since 2012 between the rebels in the eastern part of the city and the government forces in the west.

Securing the eastern part of Aleppo is a priority now for the Syrian army as Aleppo is the second most important city after the capital Damascus, and securing it will give the Syrian army a leverage on the rebels branches in other Syrian cities, as the rebels have a considerable weight in Aleppo.

Retaking eastern Aleppo will also weaken the rebels in the countryside of that province and will divide areas under their control so that it will be easy for the Syrian forces and allied fighters to eliminate them.

It will also give the Syrian army the upper hand in any future battles against the rebels, mainly in the Idlib province in northwestern Syria.

Activists said Friday the Syrian army have captured large swathes of the Masaken Hanano area, the largest rebel-held district in the city of Aleppo over the past 24 hours.

Battles, accompanied by intense shelling, have raged since midnight Thursday between the government forces and an array of rebel groups in Masaken Hanano, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog said the Syrian forces captured over 60 percent of the neighborhood, which was also the first area stormed by rebels in eastern Aleppo in mid-2012.

Observers say capturing the Hanano area will expose the Sakhour neighborhood to the Syrian army, enabling it to isolate the northern part of the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo from the southern one.

The Observatory, which says it relies on a network of activists on ground, said the Syrian forces were achieving rapid progress in eastern Aleppo, where over 250,000 civilians are trapped.

Meanwhile, a security source in the joint military room of the Syrian army and its allies stressed Friday the Syrian administration's resolve to dislodge rebels from Aleppo as soon as possible.

"Our decision is not to accept the status quo of the civilians who have become hostages in the hands of the rebels in the besieged part of Aleppo, and we have an operation that will be commensurate with the threats and will dislodge the terrorists from Aleppo as soon as possible," the security source said in a statement sent to Xinhua.

The statement also mentioned a security meeting being held in Turkey with the participation of representatives from Saudi Arabia, United States, Turkey and the rebels' Jaish al-Fateh.

It said that the foreign powers told Jaish al-Fateh, backed by the West but deemed as a terrorist group by the Syrian government, not to leave the rebel-held part in eastern Aleppo.

The powers also asked Jaish al-Fateh, or the Army of Conquest, to lead a new offensive in Aleppo.

"The meeting proves again that the countries that pretend they have concerns for the civilians are partners in killings and destructions in Aleppo and their pretense of concern about civilian lives is nothing but lies," the security source said.

It urged the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, to say "a word of truth" to "those conspirators."

"They have repeatedly tried and failed; they have achieved nothing but more killing and destruction," the statement said.

For months, the Syrian government and Russia have been urging rebels to leave Aleppo, offering them safe passages to other rebel-held areas in Idlib.

The rebels, however, turned down all offers, which has resulted in intensified violence.

TOUGH HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

With Aleppo being a magnet for the conflict, humanitarian organizations have sounded the alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation in that city, as a result of the prolonged battles, the shelling by the rebels on government areas, and the Syrian forces airstrikes on rebel-held areas.

De Mistura, the UN envoy to Syria, warned Friday that eastern Aleppo could be "gone by Christmas."

In an interview Friday with the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, de Mistura repeated that if the bombing continued as it had up until now that "by Christmas, there would be no east Aleppo anymore."

The envoy made the remarks after visiting the capital Damascus earlier this week, where he met with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.

The visit hasn't yielded any fruits, as al-Moallem turned down a request by de Mistura about maintaining a rebel local administration in eastern Aleppo.

Al-Moallem made it clear that the Syrian decision has been made for the recapture of all Aleppo.

Damascus regarded the proposition of de Mistura as an attempt to divide Aleppo.

Still, the Syrian government offered again the chance for the ill and wounded, as well as the civilians who want to leave eastern Aleppo to evacuate to government areas. It also renewed calls for the rebels to leave eastern Aleppo.

Inji Sedki, an official with the International Committee of the Red Cross, said Friday that the humanitarian situation inside rebel-held eastern Aleppo "is worsening by the day." Endit