Syria’s five-week truce was left in tatters as Islamist rebels shot down a government warplane and captured its pilot near Aleppo while the regime and its allies vowed to launch a new offensive to drive all opposition fighters from the northern city.
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A joint command center in Aleppo manned by officers from the Syrian regime, Iran, Russia and the Lebanese movement Hezbollah issued a rare joint statement that called the offensive a “huge breach of the cease-fire.”
“The Syrian Arab Army and its allies affirm that very shortly they will open hell’s gates on the armed groups on all fronts: north, south and west,” it said. The alliance urged civilians to vacate areas expected to become major battlegrounds in the coming hours and days. “All Russian, Hezbollah and Iranian forces have arrived in Aleppo and the battles will be a lesson for the Nusra Front and those with it,” it added.
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