The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, known as the Syrian Coalition, announced on Twitter late Saturday afternoon that the siege had been broken and dozens of government troops and militias allied with Damascus were killed.
#Breaking: Rebels break #Aleppo's siege. Dozens of #Assad & #Hezbollah forces were killed & hundreds escaped#Syria pic.twitter.com/UXTDWTkFZR
— Syrian Coalition (@SyrCoalition) August 6, 2016
Syrian journalist Rami Jarrah confirmed the breaking of the siege on his Twitter, adding that residents were in the streets celebrating the rebels’ victory.
BREAKING: Residents across Aleppo taking to the streets now in celebration of siege being broken #Syria
— Rami Jarrah (@RamiJarrah) August 6, 2016
In mid-July, government forces took control of Castello Road, the last route in and out of rebel-held neighbourhoods of eastern Aleppo, placing the estimated 275,000 to a million residents under siege, facing dwindling food supplies.
Several armed oppositions groups in Aleppo launched a large counter-offensive last Sunday in a bid to break the siege. Children joined the operation, setting fire to tires to create a smokescreen to prevent Russian and regime planes from carrying out airstrikes.
In the week of intense fighting, more than 500 forces on all sides of the conflict in Aleppo were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
The Observatory could not give a specific number of those killed but said the majority were rebel forces and jihadists, “because of the aerial superiority of the regime and intense Russian air strikes.”
At least 130 civilians have also been killed, the head of the Observatory Rami Abdel Rahman said, according to AFP.
