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All-out assault looms on Aleppo

Syria regime declares Damascus cleansed; Iranian 'pilgrims' taken hostage

AFP, Near Aleppo
The Syrian army pounded rebel positions in second city Aleppo yesterday ahead of a threatened ground assault after boasting its capture of the last rebel-held district of the capital.
More than 20,000 Syrian troops are massed around Aleppo, military sources said, as fighting rages for control of the country's second city.
Fighter jets, helicopters and artillery have pounded rebel positions ahead of a feared full-scale assault within days.
Meanwhile, Iran is seeking the release of 48 Iranians kidnapped on Saturday.
Iranian diplomats and Syrian state television blamed the abduction, which took place near the shrine of Sayyida Zainab in a suburb of Damascus, on "armed groups”.
Iran has now asked Turkey and Qatar, both of whom have good relations with the Syrian opposition, to help win the release of the Iranians who it says are pilgrims.
Rebels yesterday claimed that some of those taken were members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, according to al-
Arabiya television.
Tehran, Damascus's key regional ally, has repeatedly denied it has sent any military units to Syria.
A high-level security source said the army yesterday completed its deployment of
reinforcements to Aleppo, ready for a decisive showdown.
"All the reinforcements have arrived and they are surrounding the city," he said. "The army is ready to launch its offensive, but is awaiting orders.11
A senior government security figure warned on Saturday that "the battle for Aleppo has not yet begun, and what is happening now is just the appetiser... The main course will come later."
Troops shelled rebel-held Salaheddin district in the southwest and clashes erupted in the Sukkari, Hamdaniyeh and Ansari neighbourhoods, the Britain-based watchdog said.
The opposition Syrian National Council charged that the army's bombardment of the rebels was hitting key public institutions in the commercial capital, some of historical significance.
The SNC accused the army of shelling Aleppo's television building.
The pro-government Al-Watan newspaper yesterday said that the army had killed "hundreds of terrorists" in Aleppo but that between 6,000 and 8,000 remained in the city.
On Saturday, violence nationwide killed 205 people -- 115 civilians, 38 rebel fighters and 52 soldiers, the Observatory said.
The Syrian army said on Saturday it had seized the last rebel-held district of Damascus and authorities took journalists