Fierce fighting rages in Aleppo as dozens killed

ALEPPO - Reuters

Rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters drag along a street captured policemen, as the rebels overran a police station in Aleppo. In Damascus, troops killed at least 35 people.

Syrian rebels turned the gun of a captured tank against government forces, shelling a military airbase used by war planes in the battle for Aleppo.

President Bashar al-Assad’s troops meanwhile bombarded the strategic Salaheddine district in Aleppo itself with tank and artillery fire supported by combat aircrfat while rebels tried to consolidate their hold on areas they have seized. In the capital Damascus, troops overran a suburb on Aug. 1 and killed at least 35 people, mostly unarmed civilians, residents and activist organizations said. The fighting for Syria’s two biggest cities highlights the country’s rapid slide into full-scale civil war 17 months on from the peaceful street protests that marked the start of the anti-Assad uprising.

More than 180 people were killed in Syria on Aug. 1, 133 of them civilians and 45 of them members of Assad’s forces, according to the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Meanwhile, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said up to three million Syrians are likely to need food and other aid in the next 12 months because the conflict has prevented farmers from harvesting their crops.