Forces Poised for Battle at Syrian City of Aleppo
July 26, 2012
The Syrian government continues to muster soldiers outside the strategic city of Aleppo, and a large convoy of tanks and military vehicles carrying soldiers waits on the southern outskirts of the city. Rebel forces are also pouring into Aleppo from surrounding areas in anticipation of the battle to come.
“People know there is going to be chaos, fighting, shelling, so people are frightened,” an activist in Aleppo told a foreign correspondent by cell phone. “They have stocked up on canned goods and are not venturing out.” Public transportation has been shut down, and hospitals are appealing for blood donations, he reported. People are fleeing the neighborhoods where rebels have established a toehold, under the assumption that they will be pounded by government artillery.
People shop for vegetables at an outdoor market in Aleppo, one of Syria’s largest cities. Aleppo, in northwestern Syria, is an important agricultural, industrial, and education center. (© Tibor Bognar, Corbis Stock Market)
Aleppo–Syria’s largest city and commercial capital–is key to the battle to control the north of the country. Strategists note that it is almost inconceivable that President Bashar al-Assad would allow his government to lose control of Aleppo, and it is likely that he will throw everything he has into the battle to hold the city.
The rebellion against the Assad regime began in March 2011. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that the death toll from the uprising now exceeds 19,000.
Additional World Book articles:
- Arab Spring
- Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
- Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)
