BEIRUT — New clashes and military shelling were reported Sunday in Syria’s two major cities, as the warring sides in the country’s escalating conflict intensified their information battle on the airwaves, the Internet and social media.
A rebel commander, identified as Col. Abduljabbar Aqidi, declared in an opposition video released on YouTube that the battle had begun to “liberate” the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s commercial and business hub. Reached by Skype, Aqidi said rebels controlled the Salahudeen, Sakhoor and Tareeq al-Bab neighborhoods, and had repulsed a counterattack by government forces, killing 20 soldiers. Clashes continued into the night, he said.
Rebel officials called the assault on Aleppo a planned offensive and publicly warned people to stay in their homes. Many residents were reported to be fleeing the city.
The official state media, on the other hand, reported that authorities in Aleppo had inflicted “heavy losses” on “terrorists,” the government’s language for the armed rebels.
In a conflict that many now view as sectarian in nature, the rebel colonel publicly vowed to protect the rights of minority Christians and Alawites, the sect of President Bashar Assad. The rebellion has risen from Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority. Aleppo has a substantial population of Christians, and many are worried about a potential Islamist takeover of Syria if the secular Assad government is overthrown.
In Damascus, opposition activists reported a determined military assault on the Mezzeh district, home to many embassies and offices. One activist in the city reported at least eight killed and 60 wounded.
Until a week ago, Damascus and Aleppo had been largely insulated from the violence flaring in Syria’s provinces.
Both cities have been viewed as bastions of support for Assad. But an uprising began a week ago in the capital, followed by a rebel thrust that kicked off Friday in Aleppo, bringing the conflict home to Syria’s major population centers.
In Damascus, opposition activists on Sunday reported a new wave of government attacks involving artillery, tanks and helicopter gunships targeting opposition strongholds.
Residents of Damascus reported the sound of shelling as well as shortages of gasoline, bread and electricity. Many remain too frightened to venture out.
“The humanitarian situation in Mezzeh is very bad,” said one resident, reached by telephone, who, like others, asked not to be named for security reasons. “Many people are living in schools and they need food and health care. … People really can’t move in the streets.”
Thousands of Damascus-area residents have fled to the border with Lebanon, less than an hour away by car. The exodus includes both middle-class people and the poor, government supporters and opponents. Many spoke of their shock about how the war had suddenly and unexpectedly come to the capital.
