BEIRUT — The Syrian regime accused regional powerhouses Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey of trying to destroy the country and vowed Sunday that it would defeat rebels who have captured large swathes of the commercial hub Aleppo.
Military forces in Aleppo fired tank and artillery shells at neighborhoods as rebels tried to repel the government air and ground assault. According to activists, rebels who launched an operation to take over Syria's largest city a week ago are estimated to control between a third and a half of Aleppo's neighborhoods.
Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, on a visit to Iran, leveled some rare public criticism of Sunni powers in the Middle East, saying Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are supporting a plot hatched by Israel to destroy Syria. The three countries have all been backing rebels trying to overthrow authoritarian President Bashar Assad.
The battle for Aleppo, once a bastion of support for Assad's regime, is critical for both the regime and the opposition. Its fall would be a major blow to Assad, giving the opposition a major strategic victory with a new stronghold in the north.
Iran, Syria's only remaining ally in the Middle East, has provided Assad's government with military and political backing for years, and has kept up its strong support for the regime since the uprising began in March 2011.
Sunday's bombardment was part of a government counter-offensive to retake control of districts that had fallen into rebel hands last week at the beginning of their bid to capture Aleppo.
Activists said the shelling was most intense in the southwestern neighborhoods of Salaheddine, Bustan al-Qasr and parts of Saif al-Dawla, some of the first areas seized by the rebels when they started the push last week after being routed in a similar attack against the capital Damascus.
State-run news agency SANA said security agents were hunting down armed groups in several areas of Aleppo including Salaheddine, inflicting heavy losses upon the "terrorists" — the term authorities use to describe the rebels.
Since the rebel assault on Aleppo began a week ago, about 162 people have been killed, mostly civilians, according to the Observatory. Some 19,000 people have been killed since the uprising began, the group says.