Operation begins in Aleppo to break regime siege

More than 5,000 Syrian opposition fighters initiated an operation aiming at breaking the regime siege of opposition-held areas of Syrian province of Aleppo on Friday, as Grad surface-to-surface rockets had struck Nairab air base and also locations around the Hmeimim air base.

Zakaria Malahifji, an official with the Fastaqim opposition group in Aleppo, said a number of opposition groups would participate in the new offensive and that the bombardment of the air base was part of this.

The operation was named as “Great War" by the opposition. Oppositions are proceeding to the city center from the southwestern suburbs and from the Dahiyat al-Assad region.

Aleppo is one of the critical areas, which has been suffering from clashes between the moderate opposition and the Iranian- and Russian-backed Assad regime.

The region is especially significant due to its location of being only 50 kilometers from Turkish territory.

More than 250,000 civilians are still living in Aleppo.

Russia became involved in the Syrian civil war in September of 2015, as the closest ally and along with Iran, Russia is the biggest supporter of the Bashar regime of Syria.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed since the beginning of the five-year-long civil war in Syria.

United Nations says more than 250,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the violence that turned into a civil war; however the Syrian Center for Policy Research, an NGO, has put the total death toll from conflict at more than 470,000.