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Syrian aircraft strike Aleppo

Rebels claim successes, opposition figure to lead government in exile

Agencies
Syrian combat aircraft and artillery pounded two areas of Aleppo yesterday as the army battled for control of the country's biggest city, but rebel fighters said troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had been forced to retreat.
Heavy gunfire sounded from the Salaheddine district in the southwest of the city, scene of some of the worst clashes, reports Reuters.
Large clouds of black smoke rose into the sky after attack helicopters turned their machineguns on eastern districts for the first time in the latest fighting and a MiG warplane later strafed the same area of the city.
Meanwhile, Syrian opposition figure Haytham al-Maleh told reporters yesterday that he has been tasked with forming a government in exile based in Cairo.
"I have been tasked with leading a transitional government," Maleh said, adding that he will begin consultations "with the opposition inside and outside" the country.
Maleh, a conservative Muslim, said he was named by a Syrian coalition of "independents with no political affiliation", reports AFP.
The army said two days ago it had taken Salaheddine, but Syrian state television said yesterday troops were still pursuing remain- ing "terrorists" there, in an indication that the army did not after all have full control of the area.
A rebel commander in Aleppo said his fighters' aim was to push towards the city centre, district by district, a goal he believed they could achieve "within days, not weeks".
The rebels now control an arc that covers east-
ern and southwestern districts.
"The regime has tried for three days to regain Saleheddine, but its attempts have failed and it has suffered heavy losses in human life, weapons and tanks, and it has been forced to withdraw," said Colonel Abdel-Jabbar al-Oqaidi, head of the Joint Military Council, one of several rebel groups in Aleppo.
It has not been possible to verify independently who controls Salaheddine, a district that lies on a major road that the army could use to bring reinforcements into the city.
Oqaidi told Reuters late on Monday more than 3,000 rebel fighters were in Aleppo, but would not give a precise number.
The battle for Aleppo has become a crucial test for both sides in the 16-month-old rebellion. Neither Assad's forces nor the rag-tag rebels can afford to lose if they hope to prevail in the wider struggle for Syria.
The fighting has proved costly for the 2.5 million residents of Aleppo, a commercial hub that was slow to join the anti-Assad revolt that has rocked the capital, Damascus, and other cities.
While rebels say they will turn Aleppo into the "grave" of the Assad government, thousands of residents have fled and those who remain face shortages of food and fuel and the ever-present risk of injury or death.