Clashes continue in Syrian province of Aleppo

DAMASCUS - The Syria government showed unwavering resolve in the past week in its operations to overrun some rebel-held areas in northern province Aleppo while the confrontation between the two sides is getting increasingly fierce due to the support the opposition is reportedly receiving from some regional and foreign parties.

Despite some opposition activists' claim that the rebels have fended off an all-out offensive by the government troops, Syria said it is in the throes of crushing them and on the threshold of a new era, which will see all Syrian cities free of "terrorists."

On Saturday, Syria launched its fiercest offensive in Aleppo with warnings of a continuous onslaught until "smashing out the last terrorist."

The government emphasizes that it has regained its control on most areas that were reportedly held by rebels in the northern province of Aleppo, Syria's second largest city and its industrial capital.

On Monday, the Syrian army overran part of the rebel-held Salaheddin district of Aleppo, the city's most populous area and the stronghold of the rebels' Free Syrian Army.

The Syrian government dismissed the media reports that the rebels have ever achieved gains in some restive areas in Aleppo, saying those reports are no more than a "psychological war aiming to breathe life in the rebels' deteriorating morale."

It had also downplayed, via its official media, recent statements made by Western and Turkish officials and labeled them as "confused and far from the reality."

As the Syrian government stepped up its attacks on Aleppo, Leon Panetta, the US secretary of defense, called for efforts to " bring the Syrian regime down." However, the Syrian government said it is still solid and able to face the whirlwind events.

"The US secretary of defense said that the Syrian government approaches its end without even daring to set a date for this end, which the course of events denies," Syria's official news agency SANA said on Monday.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, whose country is taking over the UN Security Council's rotating presidency in August, has said he will call an emergency session for the council to impose more sanctions on Syria as a prelude to launch an attack on the country.

However, SANA said Fabius' chances are "near the zero scale in light of the steady Russian and Chinese stances that have repeatedly and persistently called for the need to leave to the Syrians to determine the future of their country by themselves."

The Syrian government held the West accountable for a great part of the Syrian people's suffering and frequently called for them to halt funding and arming the opposition to pave the way for a political process and national dialogue in the country.

Even the French foreign minister has confessed that Qatar and Saudi Arabia are sending weapons to the rebels.

A day earlier, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said during a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran, that Syria has enough defensive capabilities "to defeat all the plots and military aggressions."

"We are facing a campaign from the United States, the West, and some Arab countries... Whether we do or do not have weapons of mass destruction, Israel has more than 200 nuclear warheads," he said.

Turkey sent a convoy of about 20 vehicles carrying troops, missile batteries and armored vehicles to its border with Syria on Monday due to a growing concern about the security on its southern frontier, media reports said.

Still, Turkey is not expected to get involved in a war with Syria, particularly after a recent warning by Iran, Syria's main ally in the region, that it would stand alongside Syria in any attack it might be exposed to in accordance with the joint defense accord.

"The Syrian army crushes the terrorists... Syria would remain the only one to decide its destiny," said SANA, adding "the Syrian leadership has already taken its decision and showed the entire world that it's subject to a global war in which the colonial Western interests and fundamental religious currents have intertwined."