Freelance journalist Petra Ramsauer tells Steve Inskeep about conditions in Aleppo, once Syria's commercial center. The city is partly held by rebel forces but government troops are gaining ground.
PETRA RAMSAUER: Hello.
INSKEEP: How bad is it for the rebels?
RAMSAUER: Well, it's terribly bad. So I talked to one commander who is in charge of the frontline in the old city, which is the most important frontline the rebels are holding right now. He would tell me that the danger of losing Aleppo is imminent. And given that, usually, those people are supposed to boost the morale of the troop - then, at least, pretend that they're still able to win a fight. I think this tells you a lot about the low morale. The problem is, they tell me, they simply cannot cope with two front simultaneously. So ISIS is fighting them from behind the (unintelligible) and from the front. And recently, ISIS brought in heavy artillery humvees, et cetra, from Iraq into Syria, and they're gaining lots and lots of ground. So these rebels have squeezed and on top of things, they spotted many Hezbollah troops now guarding the (unintelligible). So they're afraid of losing it in next days, actually.
http://www.npr.org/2014/07/08/329731435/syrian-troops-advance-on-aleppo-last-major-rebel-stronghold