Aleppo fighting: Syrian air force attacks rebel positions (VIDEO)
Syrians walk past a checkpoint manned by rebels in the northern city of Aleppo today. A commercial hub and home to 2.5 million people, Syria’s second city Aleppo has become a new front in the country’s 16-month uprising, after being largely excluded from the violence.
Assad's regime escalated its military offensive on Aleppo today, unleashing its air force over the rebel-held city, Reuters reported.
Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Oqaidi, head of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) military council of Aleppo, said "several quarters of Aleppo are being bombed with MiG [fighter jets] and helicopters."
Ian Pannell of the BBC reported on “What appeared to be Russian-made MiG planes" bombing the city, on July 24.
Back in June there was talk about trying to institute a no-fly zone, but as the Huffington Post reveals, “US officials are standing by their assertion that they won't … push for a no-fly zone over rebel-controlled areas.”
However, Max Boot for Commentary Magazine makes some convincing points for a serious reconsideration of the no-fly zone as a tactical weapon against the Assad regime:
Early on in the conflict calls for a no-fly zone were rejected because this would have done little to impair Assad’s operations. Now, with the regime increasingly calling out the air force, a no-fly zone could make a difference tactically. It would also make a huge difference symbolically by showing that the world will not put up with the regime’s murderous misconduct and is prepared to act to stop it. That might well encourage more defections from the ranks of the Syrian armed forces.
Here's a video with footage that appears to show Syrian Air Force warplanes attacking rebel fighters in Aleppo.