PHOTO: Rebel fighters preparing for a ground assault on pro-Assad positions near Aleppo on Thursday

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Rebels launched the second stage of their offensive near Aleppo on Thursday, hoping to break the Russian-regime siege of opposition areas of Syria’s largest city.

The focus of the attacks were the New Aleppo district and the 3000 Housing complex, with shelling and rockets followed by three suicide vehicle bombs and ground assaults.

See Syria Developing: Rebels Launch 2nd Stage of Aleppo Offensive

The area, west of Aleppo, is adjacent to the territory taken by rebels last weekend in the first phase of the offensive. The anti-Assad forces now hold almost of the Dahiyat al-Assad district and the 1070 Housing complex, to the north of the Ramouseh area where Russian and pro-Assad force reimposed the siege in late August.

Rebels claim that they broke the first line of defense in New Aleppo. There were varying reports on Thursday night over whether rebel fighters were still inside the large 3000 Housing area.

Syrian State media said little about the fighting, instead maintaining that 12 people were killed and more than 200 injured by rebel shelling.

The rebel attacks overtook the Russian threat to resume bombing if the anti-Assad forces do not leave Aleppo city by Friday night.

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that there would be a 10-hour pause, beginning at 9 a.m. local time on Friday, for rebels to be given safe passage through two corridors to either the Turkish border or neighboring Idlib Province.

Both the Syrian opposition and rebel factions rejected the initiative, and the US expressed scepticism that it is merely to establish the pretext for renewed Russian-regime airstrikes.

The Russian and Syrian air forces escalated attacks from September 19, starting with the destruction of a UN aid convoy, over the next months. More than 600 civilians in eastern Aleppo city were killed.

On October 18, Moscow declared a pause in the strikes. Russian bombing of eastern Aleppo has all but halted; however, Moscow continues to attack opposition territory elsewhere, inflicting civilian casualties.

The Local Coordination Committees documented 55 deaths on Thursday, most of them from Russian bombing of Idlib and Aleppo Provinces.

Aftermath of an attack on Atareb, west of Aleppo, on Friday — multiple casualties, including children, are reported (Warning: Graphic Images):

Regime Prevents Aid from Reaching South Hama Villages

The Assad regime has prevented an aid convoy of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent from reaching rebel-held villages in southern Hama Province.

The 17 trucks had reached a checkpoint near Aqrab when pro-regime militias reportedly shot on or near the convoy. The trucks returned to Hama city.

Pro-Assad media outlets claimed residents from the adjacent pro-regime towns fired shots in the air to protest a supposed kidnapping of 300 residents from Alawite-majority areas.

The convoy, with food basekts and medicine, would have been the first to arrive since 2013 in the rebel-held towns of Aqrab, Tallaf, and Khirbet al-Jama. An estimated 25,000 residents live in the pocket, about 40 km (25 miles) southwest of Hama city.

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Video: Islamic State Destroys Russian Helicopter in Homs Province

The Islamic State destroyed a Russian helicopter on the ground in Homs Province on Thursday:

ISIS said it struck the helicopter with a guided missile.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the helicopter was attacked by mortars after it “made an urgent landing while carrying out a trip in order to deliver humanitarian aid to a village located nearly 40 km (25 miles) to the northwest of Palmyra”.

It said the helicopter was damaged but there were no causalties.

Video: Regime’s Thermobaric Bombs on Khan al-Shih, SW of Damascus

Footage of the regime’s ongoing attacks on Khan al-Shih, southwest of Damascus, including thermobaric bombs:

Pro-Assad forces have tried for more than a month to recapture the Khan al-Shih pocket as part of their ongoing offensive to secure areas around the capital.