Syrian regime forces roll back rebel gains in Aleppo

BEIRUT: Syrian regime forces bolstered by Russian air strikes recaptured territory overnight in the battleground city of Aleppo, rolling back the short-lived gains of a rebel offensive.

Rebel fighters and their Jihadist allies launched an assault on Sunday in a bid to ease a more than two-week government siege of opposition-held districts of the city.

But regime forces have mounted a fierce fightback, retaking several positions from beleaguered rebels, a monitor said on Wednesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces seized two hilltops and two small villages in the southwest of Aleppo late on Tuesday.

"The regime is launching counter-attacks to absorb the fierce rebel offensive," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The opposition offensive has not achieved the results that were expected at this stage."

An AFP journalist in east Aleppo said clashes and shelling could be heard throughout the night, followed by early morning barrel bomb attacks and air strikes.

The groups waging the offensive -- including Al-Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate and the powerful Islamist Ahrar al-Sham -- have promised to end the government encirclement of eastern parts of Aleppo.

They are seeking to capture the southwestern district of Ramussa in a bid to cut off government forces and open a new route into the city for rebels.

Footage obtained by AFP late on Tuesday showed dozens of fighters carrying semi-automatic weapons and firing off several rockets reportedly at the front line in Ramussa.

"God willing, today we will open the Ramussa road and enter the town," said Ahmad Sultan, an Ahrar al-Sham field commander.

"We sent in one suicide bomber and there are several more also entering," said the portly silver-haired fighter, standing in a makeshift tunnel.

But rebels have struggled to hold newly acquired territory in the face of heavy Russian air strikes, Abdel Rahman said.

They had managed to keep control of at least four hilltops and one small village.

Longtime regime ally Moscow launched an air campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad in September.

Wednesday’s edition of Al-Watan, a newspaper close to the government, said government forces, backed by Russian air strikes, "advanced again south and southwest of Aleppo causing major setbacks" for rebel factions.

And pro-regime website Al-Masdar News said an initial rebel advance into the Ramussa district was pushed back "following a long and gruesome battle". "The army’s successes, especially in Aleppo, promises a great victory," the chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, Alaedin Boroujerdi, said during a visit to Damascus on Wednesday.