Vladimir Putin to launch full scale attack on Aleppo while world is distracted by US election

Vladimir Putin will take advantage of the political hiatus in Washington during the presidential election to launch a full-scale assault on the Syrian city of Aleppo, according to intelligence sources.

The Russian leader hopes the distraction will enable him to secure a victory in the rebel-held city by the middle of January, it is understood.

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Putin could begin the attack as soon as this week, sources told The Times last night.
Moscow’s only aircraft carrier, which is on its way to a strike position in the Mediterranean, will be used to increase firepower over Aleppo in support of the Syrian regime, the sources revealed. The onslaught could be devastating for the 275,000 people living in the area.

Meanwhile, it was reported that three Russian submarines have been spotted passing through the Irish Sea on the way to join the assault against rebels in the Syrian city.

Rebels continue assault on Aleppo

Syrian insurgents have kept up their shelling of government-controlled areas of Aleppo, killing at least seven people, including three children, state TV reported.
They pushed their way with car bombs and tanks into new territory in the western part of the city with the Syrian government claiming the opposition fighters used toxic gas.
The attacks raised the death toll in the three-day old offensive to at least 41 civilians, including 16 children, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigades sit on a tank on October 30, 2016 at an entrance to Aleppo, in the southwestern frontline neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad, on the third day of a rebel offensive to break a three-month siege of the opposition-held east of Syria's second city. Rebel groups have pledged to push from newly captured positions in the Dahiyet al-Assad district towards Hamdaniyeh. Rebels and allied jihadists launched a major offensive on October 28, 2016 to break through government lines and reach the 250,000 people living in the city's east. 

Rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigades (Picture: AFP/Getty)

United Nations Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said he was ‘appalled and shocked by the high number of rockets indiscriminately launched’ on civilian suburbs of government-held Aleppo.

‘Those who argue that this is meant to relieve the siege of eastern Aleppo should be reminded that nothing justifies the use of disproportionate and indiscriminate weapons, including heavy ones, on civilian areas and it could amount to war crimes,’ Mr De Mistura said.

Sunday’s shelling came on the third day of the insurgent offensive that aims to breach a government siege on Aleppo’s rebel-held eastern districts, apparently aiming to push out government troops from frontline areas.

A tight siege has been in place since July, trapping nearly 275,000 civilians in eastern rebel-held Aleppo. The dividing lines between government-held and rebel-controlled Aleppo are often streets lined with deserted buildings or extended plastic sheets to mark rival turfs.