Syrian government battles rebels for key Aleppo district

Beirut: Syrian government forces were battling rebels for control of a strategically significant district of Aleppo on Tuesday, in what could be the most important advance in the divided city by Damascus and its allies in several weeks.

Combatant sources gave differing accounts of the situation in the 1070 Apartments district on the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo, which lies alongside the government`s corridor into the parts of the city which it controls. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that reports on the war, said government forces and their allies had seized full control of the district.

Officials in two rebel groups fighting in Aleppo said the battle was still raging in the area. Yasser Alyousef from the political office of the Nour al-Din al-Zinki group said rebels had recovered positions they had lost on Monday. 

A military media unit run by the Damascus-allied Hezbollah meanwhile said the Syrian army and its allies had taken full control of the area. Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shi`ite Muslim group, is fighting in support of Damascus.