GAZIENTEP, Turkey — The scene on TV unfolds quickly, showing a group of boys playing soccer in a street littered with broken concrete, amid apartment buildings scarred by bullet and shell holes. One of the boys accidentally kicks the ball down an alley. Another chases it down. But the ball is right next to a hidden mine. As the boy is just inches from stepping on the detonator, a Syrian opposition fighter scoops him up. An announcer’s voice warns children to beware of mines and unexploded ordnance.

This is one of the messages that the Syrian satellite TV station Aleppo Today airs daily that, along with its news programs and a breaking-news ticker, have made it the most popular network for current residents of Aleppo, refugees who have fled the war-torn city and opposition fighters in Syria’s north.

“You see it in all houses inside Aleppo and outside, and even with refugees,” said a wounded fighter being treated in a Gazientep hospital who called himself Hussein Doshka, 34, from the Aleppo countryside.

On a recent day, wounded Syrian opposition fighters on every floor of the hospital had their TVs tuned to the channel for the latest news from their hometowns.

The 24-hour, opposition-aligned news channel started a few months after the uprising began in Syria in March 2011, in order to cover protests and broadcast news about the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, back when it was hard to find any independent, non-government-controlled news out of Syria’s largest city.

”It’s an experiment of having a local TV [station] inside Syria, because previously we had only the government’s national TV,” said Aleppo Today’s manager, Khaleel Agha.

The station lets viewers know where fighting has broken out, where snipers are located, which roads are safe and what the constantly fluctuating currency exchange rates are. It also keeps viewers up to date on which border crossings with Turkey are open, and whether they are open to foot traffic only, or also to cars.

One public service announcement recently warned residents to keep their important documents at home, in a convenient place, so they can grab them and flee at a moment’s notice.

“It’s one objective of our channel, not just news,” Agha said of the public service announcements that tell people: “Be ready to leave your house if it is bombed.”

In opposition areas with no real government, and with accurate details hard to obtain, the station has made itself indispensable for survival in this war zone. “Everybody is relying on our information,” Agha said.