Only a day after announcing the campaign to take the world’s oldest city – Aleppo – the newly formed coalition of Islamist factions “Ansār as-Sharī’a” (formed out of conglomeration of opposition forces, including the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” and the Al-Qaeda affiliated group Ahrar ash-Sham) attacked the Syrian Armed Forces at the Al-Khalidiyah District, Al-Zahra Association Quarter, and Al-Ashrafiyah District.
Ansar as-Sharia hoped to mirror the success of a similar Islamist coalition “Jaish Al-Fatah”, which had managed to capture the city of Idlib and the majority of the Idlib province only a few months before.
The goal of this group (and to a lesser extent Fatah-Halab) was simply defined as the capture of the provincial capital of Aleppo and the establishment of Shariah law.
Numerous assaults had been conducted on the Syrian Armed Forces controlled part of the provincial capital in 2015, most coming with very minor success and numerous casualties for the opposition forces.
According to a military source inside the city of Aleppo, Ansar As-Shari’ah launched a number of rockets and mortar shells into the Al-Al-Zahra Association Quarter, the Al-Khalidiyah and Al-Ashrafiyah Districts, and into Nile Street, resulting in the death of 11 civilians, along with another 96 that were wounded.
Social media activists from the Syrian Opposition claimed to have penetrated deep into the Syrian Arab Army contested Al-Zahra Association District and later to have captured Tabari School; although upon further investigation, it was discovered that the latter area had already been under their control for some time.
More claims have been made since then, including the alleged capture of the Mahna Housing and Water Storage Facility – these claims were denied by sources in the Syrian Armed Forces.
Answering the beaconing call of Jihad, the Islamist Forces – as far south as the Al-Ghaab plains of Hama – have pledged on YouTube that they were mobilizing to join the battle of Aleppo.
Meanwhile the battle began to spread from the Al-Zahra Association Quarter to the Al-Khalidiyah and Al-Ashrafieh Districts, where intense clashes were reported for a long period of time.
The Syrian Arab Air Force (SAAF) retaliated with fierce air-raids, dropping munitions on the Islamist forces relentlessly.
The SAA has confirmed the destruction of a T-55 tank and three armored vehicles in the proximity of the Great Prophet Mosque.
The National Defense Forces (NDF) – mostly consisting of local Armenians – mobilized to combat in the Islamist forces of Ansar as-Sharia; which was now being joined by groups awarded with TOW ATGM or Anti-Tank Guided Missiles.
Supplies of this magnitude have been increasing since the inception of 2015, playing a crucial role in the capture of Idlib; however, these could not stop the Faylan Sham members from meeting their end to the SAAF’s M1Gs taking off from airbases as far as Latakia and Hama.
Fighting was said to have dissipated at several districts in the city, including the area of Al-Zahra Quarter after SAA forces responded with heavy artillery bombardments on the Islamist positions.
Near the city-center, Liwaa al-Quds {Jerusalem Brigades} attacked Jabhat Al-Nusra front lines in the 7th district; although for the most part, the status quo in the frontline seemed to remain in the restless war-scared city.
