By Rex Crum, MarketWatch –
SAN FRANCISCO — Fighting for control of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, intensified Saturday as rebels and government forces reportedly battled for control of state-run television and radio broadcasting facilities.
CNN reported that Free Syrian Army forces on Saturday managed to fight their way into, and get control of, parts of the TV and radio complex in Aleppo before being driven back by troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Rebel forces claimed the facilities were no longer able to broadcast due to bombings from the Syrian air force.
Fighting in Aleppo has become more intense over the past week as rebels have pushed their attacks against al-Assad’s army, and the conflict has raised more calls for intervention by the United Nations and other world powers to end the fighting that sources say has killed up to 20,000 people.
On Friday, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution rebuking Assad for the crackdown and the world body’s Security Council for not doing enough to stop the fighting in Syria. The resolution, sponsored by Saudi Arabia, passed with a vote of 133-12, with 31 abstentions.
China, a Security Council member and one of the nations to vote against the resolution, on Saturday blamed the West for putting up obstructions to find a political and diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis.
The Associated Press reported that Chinese officials said they voted against the resolution because it wasn’t in the interest of the Syrian people, and that Western nations were trying to foster a regime change in Syria.
Western nations, including the U.S., have repeatedly called for al-Assad to step down.
At a news conference in Beijing, Chinese officials didn’t mention the U.S. or Western nations by name, but said certain countries should rethink how their roles in the Syrian conflict have contributed to prolonging the fighting.
