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Syrian military respond to Aleppo rebel attack with airstrikes

By Tharadjyne Orisma
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrians walk through the rubble at the scene where multiple bombs explosions hit the center of Aleppo, Syria on October 3, 2012. Aleppo is Syria's largest city and is essentially split in half with the rebels controlling the eastern part and the government controlling the western part. File photo by unknown/UPI
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrians walk through the rubble at the scene where multiple bombs explosions hit the center of Aleppo, Syria on October 3, 2012. Aleppo is Syria's largest city and is essentially split in half with the rebels controlling the eastern part and the government controlling the western part. File photo by unknown/UPI | License Photo

ALEPPO, Syria, July 3 (UPI) -- The Syrian military launched a series of airstrikes Friday in response to Syrian rebels executing an attack on the city of Aleppo.

BBC reported Syria's state-owned Sana news outlet said the rebel assault was set back by the airstrike leaving more than 100 "terrorists" killed.

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said rebels fired hundreds of rockets and missiles into government areas in an attempt to liberate the city's Muslims late Thursday.

The rebels, which include al-Qaeda's Syrian branch Nusra Front, said in a statement retrieved from the SOHR that they were taking "revenge [for] the weak from among the children and women whose families were raped and killed unjustly."

The attack, which was an attempt to keep President Bashar Assad's control up to the Mediterranean coast from city capital of Damascus, have left at least four dead and more than 70 injured.

The rebels, led by Islamic groups, said a new alliance called "Ansar al- Shari'ah," has formed and aims "to liberate the city of Aleppo and its countryside and to endeavor with the other factions to develop a joint charter to govern Aleppo after liberation according to Islam[ic] rules."

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The International Business Times reported that since 2012 command over Aleppo has been split between the government and rebel forces saying that "the government [are] in control of the western region of the city, and rebels in control of the east."

Since the rebels began their coup against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011 more than 230,000 people were believed to be dead in Syria with about "11.5 million others -- more than half of the country's population -- have fled their homes."

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