Aleppo battles prove decisive as Turkey deploys tanks along border

President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday the Syrian army's battle with rebel forces would determine the fate of his country, and praised soldiers for confronting what he said were "criminal terrorist gangs".    
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights issued preliminary reports stating the death of one person during the clashes.

Meanwhile footage showing the apparent execution of four men loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and piles of bodies of government militiamen in a police station suggest that rebels are using the same tactics for which the Syrian leader's own forces have been condemned.
   
A video on YouTube shows four purported militiamen being led into a crowded yard  in Aleppo before a prolonged barrage of gunfire is unleashed as people chant "God is Greater".
   
The execution appeared to have been carried out in a schoolyard at an undisclosed location in Aleppo. It took place  as Assad's forces attacked residential neighbourhoods with artillery and from the air to try to drive out the rebels.
   
In the video, which could not be independently confirmed,  the men were identified as members of the pro-Assad "shabbiha" militia from the Berri family. At least two of them were in their underwear as they were led down a flight of stairs and lined up in front of a wall.

This as Turkey's army staged tank exercises near the Syrian border on Wednesday, media reports said, in a move highlighting Ankara's unease about security on the frontier as the conflict widens on the other side of its southern border.
   
The exercises were held after a series of Turkish military deployments to the area prompted by the spiralling violence in the 17-month uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The reports could not immediately be confirmed.

   
REUTERS/LBCI