Forces in Aleppo Face War of Attrition
Heavy fighting shook the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday as the escalating civil war showed fresh signs of entangling regional powers.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based pro-opposition monitoring group, reported heavy bombardment and fighting in Aleppo, while Mohammed, an activist in the city, said violence was rising.
Rebel fighters surged into the regime stronghold of Aleppo two weeks ago, buoyed by news of the assassination of senior security officials in the capital, Damascus, and government forces backed by helicopter gunships have so far failed to dislodge them.
The regime of President Bashar al-Assad is reported to have massed troops around the city, and Herve Ladsous, the UN peacekeeping chief, warned late last week that “the main battle” was about to start.
Emile Hokayem, an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that forces in Aleppo were likely to engage in a war of attrition lasting several rounds, rather than a single decisive confrontation.
“I don’t see a grande finale right now,” he said