Syrian Rebels Capture 100 Assad Troops near Aleppo

Syrian rebels clash with government soldiers near Aleppo, Syria, 26 July 2012. According to media reports, Syrian rebels and government forces on 26 July 2012 fought fierce battles for control of Syria`s two largest cities of Damascus and Aleppo. EPA/BGNE

The Syrian opposition announced Friday night that it has taken captive about 100 soldiers from army of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in ongoing fighting near the northwestern city of Aleppo.

The message was released in a video showing dozens of men in civilian clothes that was shot by a person claiming to be a member of the "Free Syrian Army."

The men in the video admit that they were part of the army of the Assad regime, and that they were captured by the opposition forces.

The Syrian opposition forces braced Friday for a decisive "mother of all" battle in Aleppo against President Bashar al-Assad's army battling to retake the country's commercial capital in what the United States said it feared could become a massacre, Al Arabiya TV reported.

The Syrian army has been sending waves of reinforcements towards the northern city, and Troops stationed on the outskirts of Aleppo unleashed barrages of heavy-caliber mortar rounds on the western neighborhoods of Saladin, al-Sukkari and al-Fardos, while Russian MI-25 helicopter gunships struck al-Sakhour in the east with rockets, several opposition activists in the city said.

"The special forces were deployed on Wednesday and Thursday on the edges of the city, and more troops have arrived to take part in a generalized counter-offensive on Friday or Saturday," a security source told AFP of Aleppo.

Opposition fighters also brought in reinforcements, with the source estimating that between 1,500 and 2,000 opposition fighters had arrived from outside Syria's most populous city to reinforce some 2,000 already fighting inside Aleppo.

"We expect a major offensive at any time, specifically on areas across the southern belt, from east to west," Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi, a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), told AFP via Skype.

Okaidi added that some 100 tanks and a large number of military vehicles had arrived in the country's commercial hub.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!