Tanks pounded Aleppo neighborhoods on Saturday, a sign that a
much-feared government offensive in Syria's largest city has started.
Government forces shelled
Aleppo neighborhoods, and Free Syrian Army rebels squared off with
government soldiers in and around the city on Saturday, the opposition
Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
Syrian TV said "terrorists" suffered heavy losses after clashes in three neighborhoods.
"The heaviest clashes
since the beginning of the revolution are taking place now in a number
of neighborhoods in Aleppo city," the LCC said.
For more than a week,
regime forces and rebel fighters have clashed in Aleppo, Syria's
commercial hub and largest city, and the regime has fired artillery from
warplanes.
Fighters have been
preparing for a major confrontation, and security forces continued
military buildup with reinforcements from Raqqa province and other
regions, opposition groups said.
Deama, an activist in
Aleppo, told CNN that the expected massive military operations have
begun since it is the first day the regime is moving into the city with
tank fire.
CNN isn't using her full name because disclosing it could put her in danger.
"Many people have been
killed," she said, including a mother and her two children. "More tanks
have arrived at a military school in northern Aleppo and started
shelling for the first time from this location today."
She said the regime is
shelling displaced people from Homs and Idlib who've taken refuge in
Aleppo, and thousands of them have had to evacuate yet again.
The uprising started in March 2011 after the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cracked down on peaceful protests.
U.N. and Arab League
joint special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan expressed concern Saturday for
the concentration of heavy weapons and troops around Aleppo "in
anticipation of an imminent battle in Syria's largest city."
"I believe that the
escalation of the military build-up in Aleppo and the surrounding area
is further evidence of the need for the international community to come
together to persuade the parties that only a political transition,
leading to a political settlement will resolve this crisis and bring
peace to the Syrian people," he said in a statement.
Also Saturday, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia has no plans to offer
al-Assad asylum, state-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
"Those who are trying to
plant this idea into the minds of the international community, pursue
their dirty goal," he reportedly said. "It's just provocations by those
who want to put the entire blame for what is going on in Syria on
Russian and China, allegedly because we have been blocking something."
Russia and China --
major trade allies with Syria -- have vetoed tough resolutions on Syria
at the U.N. Security Council. They have said they want a more balanced
approach that calls on all sides to stop the violence.
"We are blocking ...
only an attempt to support one side in an internal conflict by a U.N.
Security Council decision," Lavrov said, RIA Novosti reported.
More than 20,000 people,
mostly civilians, have died in the conflict, the LCC said. The number
is one of several overall estimates from various opposition groups and
from the United Nations. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, for
example, said at one point this week that almost 17,000 people have
died.
At least 33 of the 140
people that the LCC reported dead across the country on Saturday were
killed in Aleppo province. Three were reportedly killed on Friday, but
their bodies were not found until a day later, the LCC said.
Securing Aleppo is key
for the embattled regime and the anti-government fighters. One Free
Syrian Army commander said the regime has labeled the confrontation for
the city as the "mother of all battles."
Regime forces are
preventing fuel and food from entering Aleppo neighborhoods controlled
by rebel fighters, opposition activists said. Rebels have had to set up
medical clinics in homes.
"They are besieging our
area," said Abu Omar, a resident of the Salaheddin neighborhood. "There
is no electricity in some parts, and food is scarce."
Deama said the humanitarian situation is "disastrous."
"We have a bread crisis
because the regime apparently ordered all bread bakeries closed. But in
areas under the control of the Free Syrian Army, the FSA opened the
bakeries and were able to employ people to bake bread then distribute
it. There are also severe shortages in medications," she said.
The United Nations and
Western countries, fearing widespread death and destruction, have urged
the Syrian government to call off an offensive in Aleppo. French
President Francois Hollande reiterated his position calling for the U.N.
Security Council to urgently intervene in Syria, a source in his
entourage confirmed. Speaking in southwestern France, Hollande didn't
specify what kind of intervention is needed.
Heavy violence on
Saturday wasn't limited to Aleppo. The LCC said at least 34 people died
in violence across Damascus and its suburbs, and others died in Idlib,
Deir Ezzor and Hama provinces. Syrian state-run media alluded to a
possible showdown in Hama province.
"In a response to the
constant pleas of the residents in the area, a unit from our armed
forces started to cleanse Karnaz town in Hama from the armed terrorist
gangs," Syrian state TV reported. The Syrian government has blamed
violence in the country on vaguely defined armed terrorist gangs.
Fighting over the Syrian issue flared across the border in the Lebanese city of Tripoli on Saturday.
At least 12 people were
injured in clashes between Alawites and Sunnis. In Syria, Alawites, an
offshoot of Shiism, dominate al-Assad's regime. While Sunnis have a
significant presence in the Syrian regime, they are also dominant in the
opposition movement.
Friends of al-Assad's regime signaled their support for the embattled regime.
Iran's energy minister,
Majid Namjou, vowed his government "will not leave Syria alone in such a
difficult situation," according to state-run Press TV.
The report said the two
nations signed a deal Thursday to expand sharing of electricity and
water, with Namjou saying Iranian firms are ready to rebuild damaged
power plants.
A.K. Lukashevich, the
Russian foreign ministry spokesman, on Saturday reiterated his country's
opposition to unilateral sanctions on Syria and won't agree to
inspections of ships sailing under the Russia flag.
Russia has been a
longtime arms supplier to Syria, but it has said it will not deliver new
weapons to Syria as long as the situation there is unstable.
Lukashevich made the remarks after the latest round of European Union
sanctions against the al-Assad regime.
The civil war is making an impact on foreign entities based in Syria.
Poland has closed its
embassy in Damascus and evacuated its diplomats because of the bad
security situation, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
Navy Chief Vice Adm.
Viktor Chirkov said Saturday that personnel at the Russian naval base in
the Syrian port of Tartus may be evacuated if it comes under attack,
RIA Novosti reported. He said the base is needed for maintenance and
technical support to Russian warships in the Mediterranean Sea and for
crafts on anti-piracy missions.
Syria has faced high-level diplomatic and military defections in recent months.
The latest is Farouq Taha, the Syrian ambassador to Belarus. He confirmed the move on Al-Jazeera TV on Saturday.