Single deadliest incident for Russia since it intervened in civil war as fighters say they have pushed back Assad forces

Rebel fighters in Aleppo have launched a major military operation aimed at breaking a weeks-long regime siege of the opposition-controlled eastern part of the Syrian city.

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Dozens of soldiers on both sides of the battle have died so far in the brutal fighting, including the crew of a Russian helicopter that was shot down about 25 miles south of Aleppo on Monday morning, killing all five people on board in the single deadliest incident for Moscow since it intervened in the war.

Images on social media purportedly taken at the scene of the crash showed a dead body stripped of clothing being dragged through the dirt near the wreckage.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for shooting it down of the plane and no group among those fighting to end the siege of rebel-held districts of Aleppo has claimed responsibility.

Aid organisations believe about 250,000 civilians still live in the rebel-controlled eastern half of the city and their plight has led to growing international alarm. The area has been subjected to a brutal aerial bombing campaign from the forces of Bashar al-Assad and his Russian allies, who have destroyed the last hospital operating in eastern Aleppo.

Syrian government troops imposed the siege after seizing high ground overlooking the Castello road, a vital artery and the only supply route into opposition territory from Turkey, which staunchly backs the opposition and has called for Assad’s overthrow.

Hundreds of opposition troops appear to be taking part in the multi-pronged offensive, launched across a wide front. Rebels say they have pushed back government forces across territory in the north and south of the city, taking control of areas that have been used as staging grounds for loyalist militias, including many backed by Iran.

The campaign was launched on Sunday night, on the eve of the 71st anniversary of the founding of the Syrian army.

Opposition activists in Aleppo said rebel supporters burned thousands of rubber tyres in advance of the offensive in an attempt to obscure troop movements and limit the visibility of Syrian and Russian warplanes patrolling the skies. Videos posted online showed vast plumes of smoke enveloping the city, which was once the country’s commercial capital.

Still, pro-government troops and planes continued to bombard the rebel-held quarters of the city, and intense fighting continued through Monday in embattled Aleppo.

The Russian defence ministry said the helicopter was shot down as it flew to Hmeimem air base, where Russian forces taking part in the intervention are based. It said the Mi-8 helicopter, which is used most often for transport, reconnaissance and assault missions, was flying back after completing a delivery of “humanitarian aid.”

Rebel groups have on occasion successfully shot down helicopters and fighter jets using ground-based artillery and cannons and some appear to have shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based organisation that monitors the conflict, described the rebel offensive as the largest military attack launched against government forces in years.

The battle to break the siege is the first major offensive to involve Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, the jihadi group known as Jabhat al-Nusra until last week, when it renamed itself and said it had severed ties with al-Qaida’s central command.



Observers expect the reconstituted Nusra to forge closer ties with opposition groups fighting to overthrow Assad, though few believe the rebranding will herald any change in its ideology.

Humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that food and medicine are running out in eastern Aleppo. They have warned that the situation in Aleppo was dire and deteriorating rapidly, with untold numbers of civilian casualties due to indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling. The Red Cross described the situation as “devastating and overwhelming”, while Médecins sans Frontières said four of the hospitals it supports in the city were bombed over the past week.

The Kremlin had said it would open “humanitarian corridors” meant to allow civilians to flee and rebel soldiers to surrender in an effort to quell the rebellion.

But the proposal was deemed impractical as fighting raged throughout the city, and only a few dozen families appear to have left the besieged territory.

The Higher Negotiations Committee, which is representing the opposition in peace talks brokered by the US and Russia, said the Russian announcement was an attempt to displace civilians and depopulate the city.

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“The forcible displacement of Aleppo’s population is a war crime perpetrated by the Syrian regime and a permanent member of the [UN] security council,” said Riyad Hijab, the head of the HNC.

Aleppo has been a battleground since the opposition stormed it in 2012, taking control of roughly half of Syria’s second-largest city. Its loss would be a crushing blow to the five-year rebellion, perhaps an irreversible defeat that would cement Assad’s control over the nation’s urban centres.

The large scale of the campaign, which has drawn together a wide conglomeration of rebel fighters, hints at Aleppo’s symbolic and material importance to the opposition.

If successful, it would also reverse a tide of government momentum and advances that have consolidated Assad’s rule over the past 10 months, since a Russian intervention aimed at insulating the regime from imminent collapse put a halt to months of consecutive victories by the opposition.

Last year, the rebellion looked on the verge of pushing Assad’s sphere of influence to a narrow strip of coastal territory stretching from Latakia to Damascus and Homs, with a tenuous hold over half of Aleppo, which also seemed likely to fall to a new coalition of mostly Islamist opposition groups known as Jaysh al-Fateh that ousted the regime from Idlib province and repelled major offensives backed by Iran and its proxy militia, Hezbollah, in Aleppo and the southern province of Deraa.

But a Russian intervention in October last year, which brought intense aerial firepower to Assad’s aid, succeeded in halting the rebels’ advance, retaking territory from Islamic State and tightening the noose around Aleppo, long a prize desired by the regime and its allies.

The fighting in and around the city intensified in the last few months as peace talks under UN auspices collapsed into deadlock, handicapped by disagreement over the basic question of Assad’s fate if the war were to end.