DAMASCUS: The Syrian regime Army has reportedly advanced in the rebel-held areas around Aleppo in a bid to fully besiege the northwestern city, opposition sources and activists reported Monday.
Sources said the army has managed to gain control over strategic posts in Aleppo suburbs with the help of Iranian, Lebanese and Afghan militias.
The town of Al-Jubaila, along with a glass factory and a cement plant near Aleppo’s central prison, have fallen under the grip of Assad’s militias, sources added.
Activists said the Syrian regime’s recent gains indicate that the city of Aleppo, once the economic hub of Syria, could soon be subject to a dreadful siege.
Opposition fighters suggest the regime is gaining ground in the area by using toxic gases after failing to win over the armed opposition with conventional weapons.
U.S. confirms one cache of arms fell in hands of Islamic State - The Hindu
A Kurdish fighter holds his rifle as he guards the street in the Iraqi town of Qara Tappa north of Baghdad, on October 21, 2014.
The U.S. on Wednesday confirmed that the Islamic State has seized at least one bundle of arms supply airdropped by it for the Kurdish fighters near the Syrian town of Kobani.
“Yesterday we announced that one re-supply bundle went astray and was destroyed. We have since re-looked at that and we have determined that a second bundle also went astray and probably fell into enemy hands,” Pentagon Spokesperson Army Colonel Steve Warren told reporters during an off-camera news conference.
“One bundle worth of equipment is not enough equipment to give the enemy any type of advantage at all,” Mr. Warren said.
“It’s a relatively small amount of supplies. This is stuff ISIL already has,” he said.
Early this week, the U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft airdropped 28 bundles of weapons, ammunition and medical supplies for Kurdish fighters to help them defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or the Islamic State terror group as it is known as across the globe.
