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DAMASCUS, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian government forces and allied fighters have fully repelled a wide-scale offensive by at least 12 rebel groups in the northern city of Aleppo on Friday, a military source told Xinhua.
The Syrian army and the Lebanese Hezbollah group fully thwarted the rebel offensive, which was unleashed earlier on Friday on all fronts in Aleppo city, the source said on condition of anonymity.
At least 12 rebel groups, including ultra-radical ones, mounted the wide-scale offensive on government forces positions in Aleppo, with the aim of breaking the Syrian army's siege on rebel-held areas in the eastern side of Aleppo city, the source said.
The attack targeted government forces' positions in western Aleppo, and the rebels remotely detonated at least two car bombs near military positions at the western gate of Aleppo city, the source said.
The source, who is close to Hezbollah, said rebels' reports about capturing Hezbollah fighters are completely baseless.
He said at least 25 rebels with the Jaish al-Fateh, or the Army of Conquest, and the Conquest of Aleppo group, were killed and tens of others were wounded during the offensive.
Meanwhile, the source said that rebels also fired several rockets and mortar shells on government-controlled areas in western Aleppo, in tandem with the attack.
The Syrian national TV said at least seven people were killed on Friday by the rebel shelling.
The Syrian army has laid a siege on rebel-held areas in Aleppo in recent months, urging the rebels to surrender themselves or leave eastern Aleppo to other rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.
The rebels didn't comply with the military repeated requests. Last week, a three-day truce, aiming to facilitate the evacuation of civilians and rebels who want to surrender in exchange for pardon, expired with a few civilians and rebels evacuating.
The Syrian government accused the rebels of preventing the civilians, around 250,000, from leaving.
Observers believe that Aleppo is going to be the decisive battle ground among the fighting groups, and the winner will be the one dictating its conditions to resolve the crisis, as the province contain all the groups that are supported by regional and international powers, with the civilians paying the price for this proxy war.
