Including a child, four persons at least died; 13 others were injured in the artillery and missile shelling that targeted the city of Aleppo in August and September 2018. The shelling corresponded to the statements made by a few armed opposition groups, in which they declared the bombardment of several military posts of the Syrian regular forces in the city.
On August 2, 2018, activists in the city of Aleppo recorded missile attacks in the neighborhoods of al-Zahraa, Nile, al-Mohandesin and Halap al-Jadideh/New Aleppo, which caused the death of three persons and the injury of six others. On the same day, a commander of the armed opposition groups stated that they have bombarded the Military Academy, the Artillery School and the al-Zahraa Association Square; all these locations are close to the neighborhoods mentioned above.
The commander said: “[We] avoided shelling places where civilians are found in Aleppo, and have also instructed the people as to keep away from the places near locations where the Syrian regular forces and loyalist militias spread.”
On August 8, two missile shells landed in the New Aleppo neighborhood and caused no civilian casualties. On the 13th of the same month, targeting the two neighborhoods of New Aleppo and al-Zahraa with explosive ordnance was recorded.
On September 2, 2018, a missile shell also ended near the Hamza Mosque in the al-Zahraa neighborhood, while on the 4th of the same month, two persons were injured as three mortar shells hit the al-Hamadaniah neighborhood.
On the 14th of the same month, a child died and 13 others were injured, including three women, in an artillery shelling and improvised missile which ended in the Nile neighborhood, according to Aleppo University Hospital.
On September 19, 2018, artillery shells hit the New Aleppo neighborhood, and on the 21 of the same month, a missile landed in the surrounding of a hotel in the al-Hamadaniah neighborhood, causing the injury of several persons, according to local media outlets and activists in the city of Aleppo.
Concerning the opposition armed groups being responsible for the bombardment of the city of Aleppo, a military source from the National Front for Liberation, who refused to reveal his name for personal reasons, told Syrians for Truth and Justice/STJ, on September 24, 2018, that the militants of the National Front have for several times, in August and September 2018, targeted military posts of the Syrian regular forces to the west of the city of Aleppo, which are the Military Academy, the Artillery Battalion, al-Azharaa Association Quarter and Ramouse, stressing that no civilian areas were targeted.
On the other side, the local activist Mohammad Ward [1]said that all the lines of contact between the two sides are controlled by the National Front for Liberation.
He added:
“I am based in the town of Khan al-Asal and I can hear the launch of artillery shelling when the factions initiate an attack. On the reported dates, when shells hit the city of Aleppo, we did not hear the sound of shells being launched from the opposition groups’ posts near us.”
It is necessary to mention that the Khan al-Asal region is one of the military posts from where shelling is often started, in addition to other areas such as the al-Rashidin al-Dahieh/ al-Rashidin the District, al-Rashidin al-Khamseh/al-Rashidin the Fifth and al-Mansoura.
[1] Mohammad was interviewed via the internet on September 24, 2018, given that he is based in the town of Khan al-Asal to the west of Aleppo city, adjacent to the line of contact between the Syrian regular forces and the armed opposition groups.