The Syria Independence Flag (Creative Commons).

The group, calling itself the “Brigade of Unification,” announced the operation in an online video.  

“We gave the orders to march on Aleppo with the aim of liberating it,” one of the group’s leaders, Col. Abdul-Jabbar Mohammed Akidi, said. 

The AP reported that the operation showed the rebels’ growing confidence, although they can’t hold ground against the government’s heavy weapons that include helicopter gunships, tanks and heavy artillery. 

According to Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the violence pushed the death toll for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad passed 19,000 people since it began in March 2011. The group said that July is expected to end as the conflict’s deadliest month so far - with 2,752 people killed in the first three weeks.

The Free Syrian Army entered Aleppo last week, The Guardian reported. More than 30,000 Syrians have fled to neighboring Lebanon.  

Read more of Neon Tommy’s coverage on Syria here.

Reach Executive Producer Agnus Dei Farrant here.