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Summary The Syrian army and rebels deployed more forces in Aleppo for a decisive battle.
The Syrian army and rebels deployed more forces in and around Aleppo on Wednesday as a decisive battle for control of the countrys second city raged, activists and regime sources said.Hundreds of rebels from all over the north of Syria are arriving in Aleppo, which appears to have become the decisive battle, a journalist for a Syrian newspaper working in the city told AFP.Around a dozen districts on the outskirts of the city are in the hands of the rebels and you can hear the sound of bombardment and automatic gunfire, he said.Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the influx.They are sending numerous fighters to Aleppo to battle the regime because, for them, Aleppo is as important as Benghazi was for the Libyan rebels, he said.Abdel Rahman said the army had also sent reinforcements to the city.In the past 48 hours, there are army reinforcements arriving on the Damascus-Aleppo highway, he said, adding that rebels were targeting the convoys.On Wednesday afternoon, they used roadside bombs to hit a convoy of security forces travelling towards the city, killing eight. On Tuesday, they had attacked a convoy in a bid to delay its arrival in Aleppo.Its a decisive battle and the regime is sending reinforcements to stop the rebels from taking its bases and public buildings, Abdel Rahman said.A security source said the key battle under way was in the districts between the city and the airport, which are in the hands of the terrorists.Clashes continued in the neighbourhood of Bustan al-Qasr in the south of the city, where army helicopter gunships fired on the neighbourhood, the Britain-based Observatory said.There were also clashes in Aleppos central Al-Jamaliya neighbourhood close to the local headquarters of the ruling Baath party. In Kalasseh, in the south of the city, rebels set fire to a police station, the Observatory said.Fighter jets overflew the city, breaking the sound barrier but not carrying out bombing raids, Abdel Rahman told AFP.Nationwide, the Observatory put the death toll at 108 by Wednesday evening -- 57 civilians, 36 soldiers and 15 rebels. The Observatory said 158 people were killed across Syria on Tuesday.The watchdog also reported clashes in the district of Al-Hajar Al-Aswad in Damascus, one of the last remaining rebel bastions in the capital, and Assali, 10 days after fighting broke out there.Helicopter gunships and heavy machinegun fire pounded Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, as the regime tried to reclaim it, the Observatory said.Amid unrelenting violence, university exams have been cancelled in several cities, including in Damascus, Aleppo and eastern Deir Ezzor.
