Rebels claim to have launched a “decisive attack” on Syria’s second city, Aleppo, as the UN refugee agency warned as many as 700,000 refugees could flee the country by year’s end.

“Tonight, Aleppo will be ours or we will be defeated,” Abu Furat, a rebel commander, told AFP as several thousand fighters went on the offensive in the key northern city that has been a battleground since July.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce combat in the early evening in the districts of Izaa and Saif al-Dawla in the southwest, involving “hundreds of rebel fighters”.

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A pair of powerful blasts targeting Syria’s military command headquarters rocked central Damascus early Wednesday.

It was the second consecutive day that bombs, apparently planted by rebels, hit the capital, highlighting insurgents’ ability to strike at the heart of the government of President Bashar Assad.

The attacks come as the United Nations General Assembly has been debating the crisis in Syria, though a deeply divided U.N. has failed in efforts to broker a cease-fire.

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The Syrian regime on Tuesday announced it had retaken the large Arkoub district of Aleppo, the country’s second city, but a watchdog reported there was still fighting between troops and rebels in the area.

A military source told an AFP correspondent in the northern city of Aleppo that ‘army operations have been completed in Arkoub,’ a large eastern district in the northern metropolis.

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A joint US-Israeli attack on the Islamic republic could trigger a third world war, a general from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, has claimed, cited by ‘Digarban’ website.

“World War III could break out if the United States and Israeli forces decided to attack Iran,” said general Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commandar of the Revolutionary Guards’ airforce, cite by Digarban.

“Iran would be ready to launch strikes on US bases in the Gulf and US allies in the region in the event of an attack by the US together with its allies,” Hajizadeh said.

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Members of the Free Syrian Army attacked a Lebanese Army post Friday night near the northern border with Syria, the Army said in a statement Saturday.

No causalities were reported.

“For the second time in under a week, a unit from the Free Syrian Army [consisting of] a large number of gunmen entered Lebanese territory overnight via the outskirts of Arsal, where it attacked one of the Lebanese Army’s posts,” the statement said.

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