Syrian Army Repels Terror Attack on Syrian Air Force Intel HQ in Aleppo

Dozens have been reported killed following a rebel attack on Syrian Air Force Intelligence Headquarters in Aleppo.

At least 34 of people have been reported killed following a rebel attack on the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Headquarters in Aleppo, northwest Syria.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a powerful blast hit the Air Force intelligence offices in the city followed by heavy fighting between Islamist rebels and government forces.

A Syrian military source told Sputnik Wednesday that the army had repelled the attack, initiated by Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. "The army took control over the situation back into its hands and foiled the attempt by rebels to storm the headquarters," the source said, adding that the Syrian army had suffered no casualties in the operation.

It is unknown how many were killed in the explosion itself. The Observatory had reported that rebels blew up a tunnel located under the Air Force Intelligence building.

#Syria #Aleppo Alleged Photo of Smoke coming from Intelligence branch building area after tunnel bomb exploded. pic.twitter.com/K9u1KR32Ly

— Ivan Sidorenko (@IvanSidorenko1) 4 Март 2015

An AFP journalist in the area noted that the blast could be heard across the city, with some residents reporting that it felt like an earthquake. Rebels are reported to have simultaneously shelled government positions with mortar strikes in the western Aleppo neighborhood of al-Zahraa.

Clashes have been occurring across the city and its outskirts between government forces and several factions of Islamist and republican rebels. News of the Air Force Intelligence HQ attack follows on reports that the moderate Hazm Movement rebel movement disbanded over the weekend, with al-Nusra believed to have stepped into the void.

In the neighboring, northeastern province of Al-Hasakah, Syrian government and Kurdish People's Protection Union are reported to have launched uncoordinated offensives on ISIL militants, with government forces backed by local Arab tribes seizing 23 villages from the Islamic terror state group following three days of fighting. Meanwhile, clashes in the south of the country saw government forces supported by Hezbollah capture villages and military bases in the provinces of Sweida and Deraa from al-Nusra and republican rebels.

Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting armed rebel groups including the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat al-Nusra. The conflict is estimated to have taken the lives of over 200,000 people, injuring and displacing millions more.