30 July 2012
Last updated at 15:45 GMT
Rebel forces say they are holding their own in Aleppo
Syrian
government forces have been continuing their assault with artillery,
ground forces and helicopter gunships on rebel-held areas of the second
city, Aleppo.
Officials said one area, Salah al-Din, had been recaptured, but rebels said the battle there was still going on.
UN observers have reported an upsurge in violence in the city, the new head of their mission Babacar Gaye said.
He added that he had personally seen heavy shelling in the city of Homs.
Lt-Gen Gaye also said he had witnessed serious damage from shelling and fighting in the nearby town of Rastan.
In other developments:
- Greece is to quadruple the number of guards on its border with
Turkey to pre-empt a possible influx of Syrian refugees, AP quotes
Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias as saying
- The al-Jazeera media network says one of its journalists,
Ankara-based correspondent Omar Khashram, has been wounded by shrapnel
in Aleppo and evacuated to Turkey for treatment
- Syria's most senior diplomat in London, Charge d'Affaires Khaled al-Ayoubi, says he has left his post
and is no longer willing to represent a regime that has "committed such
violent and oppressive acts against its own people", a UK Foreign
Office statement says
- A Turkish official tells Reuters news agency that 12 police
officers, including the chief of Latakia city's force, have fled over
the border
- The Turkish army has sent reinforcements including missile
batteries to the Syrian border, state-run Anatolian news agency reports
'Not one metre'
Government forces launched a ground assault on Aleppo on Saturday after a week of sporadic shelling and sorties by fighter jets.
Rebels are now thought to have a direct route from Aleppo to the Turkish border
With fighting into its third day, UN observers and witnesses reported fire from mortars, tanks and helicopter gunships.
Fighting has focused on the Salah al-Din neighbourhood in Aleppo's south-west, where the rebels had embedded themselves.
Syrian state television showed footage from the city and
interviewed soldiers who said they had taken complete control of Salah
al-Din late on Sunday.
On Monday, officials in Damascus again said they had "purged" the area.
But activists have denied that the quarter has been overrun by the army, saying rebels are still in control.
The head of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo, Col Abdel Jabbar
al-Oqaidi, told the AFP news agency the government "had not progressed
one metre".
Heavy shelling and clashes have also been reported in the
Sakhur quarter on the north-east side of the city centre, where another
attack by government forces appeared to be under way.
And an AFP reporter said rebels had captured a checkpoint at
Anadan, 5km (three miles) north-west of Aleppo, seizing government
armoured vehicles.
Correspondents say that controlling the checkpoint would give the rebels a direct route between Aleppo and the Turkish border.
Meanwhile UN humanitarian chief Baroness Valerie Amos said
that, according to Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent estimates,
some 200,000 people had fled fighting in Aleppo.
She said others were trapped in the city and needed urgent help.
"I call on all parties to the fighting to ensure that they do
not target civilians and that they allow humanitarian organisations
safe access."
She said many people had fled their homes to take shelter in schools and other public buildings.
The BBC's Ian Pannell, in the Aleppo area, says residents are facing food shortages and power cuts.
He says the rebels are outgunned by the army, but they are fighting an effective guerrilla war in the streets.
'Try everything'
The fighting comes as the UN Security Council remains
chronically divided over Syria, with Russia blocking attempts by Western
nations to ramp up pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.
France is due to take over the presidency of the Security
Council this week, and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has pledged to
continue pushing the issue.
He called Mr Assad an "executioner" and said he would ask for
a ministerial level meeting of Security Council members before the end
of the week.
"We must try everything," he said on French radio, "even
though Russia and China have blocked resolutions on three separate
occasions."
Meanwhile Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said there could be room for compromise.
In an interview with The Times newspaper, he said the
positions of Russia, the US and UK were not as different as is sometimes
suggested.
Fear and hunger in Aleppo
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