Mientras tanto, en Alepo...

Sí, el imperio está dale que dale bombardeando Irak y Siria sin que se sepa qué es lo que están haciendo realmente, pero eso no quita que el estado sirio no siga ganándole terreno a los "militantes" de la "oposición" "siria". Leemos en el sitio Al-Akhbar:  

Título: Syrian army clashes with rebels in Aleppo, regains full control of Handarat

Texto: The Syrian army clashed with rebels on the northern edge of Aleppo city on Friday, residents and activists said, threatening to take the last main supply route for the armed opposition groups into the city and trap opposition forces and civilians inside.

Although there are smaller, more indirect routes into Aleppo, taking the road would significantly reduce the rebels' ability to resupply and it would also allow the army to besiege areas of the city which fell to insurgents two years ago.

"The road is completely closed and the regime has erected barriers," said Muhammad Bidour, a 25-year-old activist opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. "Our comrades were there and had to take another very long road which takes hours."

Bidour said clashes were ongoing in the villages of Sifat and Dowir al-Zeitoun, around eight kilometres north of Aleppo.

Civilian Abdullah Qatmawi, 30, said he was unable to drive directly to Aleppo because of the blocked road. "When we arrived to the northern countryside (of Aleppo) we felt there was a problem on the road and when we arrived to Handarat there was fighting," he said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in the country, said the army was not yet in control of the main road but that clashes centered around Handarat, a northern Aleppo district, had blocked the route.

"If the army can take and hold Handarat, then Aleppo will be under siege," Observatory head Rami Abdulrahman said by telephone.

However, according to field sources for al-Manar TV, the Syrian army was able to fully control the town Handarat near the central prison east of Aleppo amid collapse in the ranks of armed groups.
Furthermore, at least 40 people were killed in air and ground operations across Syria on Thursday by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, opposition activists say.

The London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights, which tracks civilian and opposition casualties, said the regime’s air and land operations Thursday killed at least 40 in the suburbs of capital Damascus, in Aleppo, al-Hasake, Daraa, Idlib, Homs, and Deir Ezzor.
Accounts of violence are difficult to verify due to tight media restrictions in Syria and the deteriorating security situation for journalists.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011. The UN in August said that more than 191,000 people are believed to have been killed in the bitter conflict so far.