July 5, 2015
By Suleiman Al-Khalid
The Syrian army and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia (click here) said they had launched a major ground and air assault on the rebel-held Syrian city of Zabadani and they were closing in on insurgents holed up inside.
The army, with its Shiite ally Hezbollah, has long sought to wrest control of Zabadani from Sunni rebels who have held it since 2012, a year after the start of the Syrian civil war. The city is near the Lebanese border and the Beirut-Damascus highway that links the countries, and so capturing it would be a major strategic gain for Syrian President Bashar al Assad's government....
BBC is saying about the same thing with more detail. Allepo had an economic significance. Obviously the city is very damaged. But, it is a city that the Assad forces will defend and hold.
July 3, 2015
...Rebels (click here) have made numerous attempts to seize key installations held by the government, but with little effect.
On Thursday, 13 Islamist fighting groups and al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's affiliate (al-Nusra is not al Qaeda; they are more free lancing than that; in name only doesn't count) in Syria, came together to launch a co-ordinated assault on several fronts.
A statement said the aim of the new coalition, called Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), was "the liberation of Aleppo and its countryside", after which they would work with other groups to govern the city according to Islamic law.
Western-backed groups also said they were taking part in the offensive, organised through a joint operations room called Fatah Halab (Conquest of Aleppo), the New York Times reported.
The rebels launched simultaneous
attacks on western districts of the city controlled by government
forces, firing hundreds of rockets and shells, the Syrian Observatory
reported....The fighting in Syria's second city has had a devastating impact on its residents
Tunisia remains in a State of Emergency following the deaths of 38 beach tourists.
