Beirut: The Syrian army has retaken a village that overlooks major rebel-held towns around Aleppo, state television said on Saturday, part of a government campaign to encircle and recaptured insurgent areas of the major northern city.
It said the army entered the village of Al Tamura located on high ground above the towns of Anadan, Hayan and Haritan that have been heavily bombed in recent days and become a front line in Syria’s almost five-year-old war.
The army, backed by allied militias and heavy Russian aerial bombing, began a big offensive this month aimed at cutting rebel supply line with Turkey and regain full control of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and commercial hub before the war.
Meanwhile, in Aleppo, shop shelves are bare and prices have doubled as the threat of a blockade looms after advancing regime forces cut off the second city’s main supply route last week.
“What will happen when food runs out? We’ll die of hunger,” said Abu Mohammad, who has seven children.
“Everybody here fears a blockade. We can feel it unavoidably coming,” said the 42-year-old salesman from the southeastern Fardoss neighbourhood.
Some 300,000 people are at risk of being placed under siege in Aleppo, a city that has been divided since 2012, with government forces controlling the west and rebels the east.
Government troops cut off the eastern part’s main lifeline to the Turkish border in a onslaught backed by Russian air strikes they launched this month against rebels in northern Aleppo province.
“I’ve saved some flour, rice, sugar and oil but it won’t last my family more than three months,” said Abu Omar, a father of four.
“Many shops have closed and prices have doubled,” said the resident of the eastern Kallasa neighbourhood.
