It was long after dark when the rebel fighter saw something through his night-vision goggles. In the past, the regime had made its moves openly, by daylight, but this seemed different.
There were figures flitting across the end of the street ahead of him, perhaps 150 yards away, one by one. Then he realised that there were others, already much closer, half the distance.
He called the alert, and within minutes reinforcements had arrived, 1,000 in all, such was the panic, and so overcrowding the front that some had to be withdrawn again.
In the battle that ensued, half a dozen rebel fighters were killed, before they beat off the incursion, sending the regime's troops "fleeing, leaving their weapons behind", said the fighter, known as "Bushi", and his friends, boasting.
The attack on the eastern suburb of Sakhour had turned into another skirmish in Aleppo's long war, leaving the front lines just where they were before, but it gave food for thought.
Was this the start of the regime advance on Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, promised since the fall of the Qusayr ten days ago? Was it an attempt to seize the flyover the checkpoint was protecting, which if over-run would cut off rebel supply lines around the city? Or was it just a test of their defences?
Source Telegraph UK
- One of world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, mentioned in texts from 20th Century BC
- Became a key trading post and has been repeatedly fought over through the centuries
- Population was about 2.3 million by 2005, mostly Sunni Muslims
- Has largest Christian population in Syria as well as Shia and Alawite communities
- Latest fighting began with bomb attacks on February 2012
- Old City is a World Heritage Site but several ancient monuments have been destroyed in fighting
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