Statue of Bashar al-Assad's father in Aleppo in 2001. (Wikimedia Commons)

Leaders of Syrian rebel forces initiated an attack on hundreds of government troops heading toward Aleppo, Syria's largest city, according to a Free Syrian Army official who spoke to CNN.

Syria rushed troops to Aleppo to counter the rebel attack, sending dozens of government tanks in hopes to end the five-day rebel struggle to take Aleppo from President Bashar Assad's control, according to USA Today. 

Northern Syria, where Aleppo is located, has experienced some of the heaviest fighting in the year-long civil war. 

While fighting continued to rage in Syria, Turkey announced that it sealed its border to trade with the war-torn country.  

At one point, trade between Syria and Turkey was worth $3 billion. 

Turkey will keep its borders open to refugees hoping to escape or find supplies.  

CNN said: Footage streamed live by the Free Syrian Army Wednesday afternoon appeared to show rebel forces taking control of a police station in central Aleppo.

The video shows them seizing tanks, looting the station, smashing pictures of President Bashar al-Assad and lining up members of the pro-regime Shabiha militia they have captured, although what happens to them next is not shown.

The footage casts doubt on Syrian state TV reports that government forces were sweeping the rebels from Aleppo.

At least 100 people were killed Wednesday, including nine children.  

The Huffington Post reported that Colonel Richard Kemp, who led UK forces in Afghanistan, said that the escalating violence in Syria has made a British militaristic intervention more likely. 

"Western political leaders may have no appetite for deeper intervention. But as history has shown, we do not always choose which wars to fight - sometimes wars choose us," Kemp said.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged world leaders to act now to end the slaughter in Syria, according to the BBC. 

The escalating violence in Syria peaked last week with the assassination of two of Assad's defense ministers and a string of defections by other military officials.

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage of the Syrian conflict here.

Reach Executive Producer Michael Juliani here; follow him on Twitter here.