Aleppo on the road to become second Homs, dissidents say

Saying that there has been a decrease in clashes between regime soldiers and dissidents in the last couple of days, leading to hopes of ending the bloody conflict, reporters said, however, it was the calm before the storm and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad started bombing all the city on Sunday morning. Considering the destructive power and frequency of bombings, Aleppo might soon become another Homs, they warn.

Most of the clashes occur in Salahaddin district of the city and because of the sharp shooters located in the district, it is almost impossible for a dissident to enter the district. Sharp shooters shot and killed three people from Dar al-Shifa Hospital on Sunday morning and two of them were health officers.

The number of injured people the Dar al-Shifa Hospital is hosting is more than its capacity. Therefore, many are laid outside the hospital where they wait for their turn for treatment. As for the conditions and utilities in the hospital, there is no electricity or adequate devices in the hospital. Doctors use the light of a miner’s helmet during their operations and when they have no light, they prefer bandaging the wound instead of suturing it. Following a first aid treatment, patients that are in critical condition are sent to Turkey for further treatment.

Helicopter and jets of the regime are flying over the city of Aleppo; but dissidents believe that they will maintain the control of the city with their frontier clashes in streets, because they don’t have any heavy weapon or missiles that can down Assad’s jets or helicopters.

The first bomb on Sunday morning targeted a school, which was headquarter of the opposition groups and which Turkish reporters were staying in. The regime forces missed their target, but many bombs were dropped around the school building. A jet fighter drops about 10 sorties and when it lands over its target with a 90 degree of angle, it drops the bomb and then it swiftly rises. And just as a jet runs out of bombs, another comes right away, reporters tell. A dissident, who is also a driver, in Aleppo said: “When a bomb is dropped, Shabbihas [a term used by opposition to describe disguised militiamen who are loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and are fighting alongside his troops.] reach to the scene at once and they mingle in dissidents by making use of the atmosphere of panic.”

Reporters say Aleppo, which is geographically seem like a circle, is now divided in the shape of a crescent having opposition fighters in the East and regime forces on the West side of the crescent.

Turkmen in Aleppo calls for further help

Fatih Sultan Mehmet troop, linked to Free Syrian Army and comprised of Turkmens in Aleppo, call for further aid both in terms of food and arms.

The head of the group, which has about 70 Turkmen members, is Mohammed Abdullah, a trader, and its members are mainly students and of different crafts. Members of the troop have very little to eat at iftar, or fast-breaking, dinners and almost nothing to eat at suhur, pre-dawn meal. But their greatest need is weapons, they say. Many Turkmen can not fight because they don’t have arms to fight with.

Turkmens, who are densely located in the north of the city, are one of the groups that first launched the resistance against Assad regime. After they take their families to villages near Turkish border that are safer, they return to Aleppo to fight against the regime forces. They emphasize that they struggle hard aiming to have a voice in the new Syria that will be established in the future, which they are sure that will happen.