Army Regains Hanano District as Aleppo Attacks Claim 30 Victims

Local Editor

The Hanano area in Syria's northern city of Aleppo has become under the control of government forces after intense clashes, a military source said on Monday.
"We have regained full control of Hanano," the officer told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity.
The Hanano area constitutes a number of residential blocs, several military barracks and a recruitment division.

According to previous activists' reports, the armed opposition rebels had surrounded the barracks and taken over the recruitment division in addition to a secrete prison there. They claim that around 350 detainees had been freed by the insurgents.

However, sources said that the army had unleashed its firepower to regain control of the area.
Earlier in the day, a Syrian pro-government daily said that the army was poised for a wide-scale offensive in eastern Aleppo city.

The al-Watan daily said the army had clashed with the rebels in Aleppo city over the past 24 hours as a prelude for a wider-scale operation in the eastern parts of the battered city "after the decision had been made for a military showdown there."

The paper said the army had moved units toward the Aleppo's eastern district of Sakhour, which is expected to witness the beginning of the wide-scale operation in eastern part of the city.

In separate accounts, the opposition Local Coordination Committees (LCC) said that the Aleppo districts of Qadi Askar and al-Yassir were shelled Monday by a Syrian fighter jet.
However, the claim couldn't be checked independently.

Meanwhile, a Syrian official source said 30 civilians, including women, children, and two law-enforcement members were martyred and 64 others were wounded in Sunday's terrorist bombing which took place evening in front of al-Hayat hospital in al-Malaab al-Baladi neighborhood in Aleppo, state-run SANA news agency reported.

The source added to SANA on Monday that the explosion was caused by a mid-sized transport vehicle designed for transporting food which was loaded with more than 1000 kg of high explosives.

The explosion left a crater 6 meters deep and 50 meters in diameter.

The bombing caused significant material damage to al-Hayat and Central hospitals, al-Nisr al-Souri (Syrian Eagle) elementary school, and nearby buildings.

The source also stated that, at the same time, another explosion took place near Qutaybah Bin Muslim al-Bahili school in al-Shuhada'a neighborhood in New Aleppo area.

The explosion was caused by a car bomb rigged with 500 kg of explosives. It claimed 3 lives including a 10-year-old girl and wounded six civilians.

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