Prepare for decisive battle: Assad

Message to troops comes as rebels claim control of key police stations in Aleppo

In rare public remarks apparently designed to marshal government forces seeking to suppress a 17-month revolt,President Bashar al-Assad urged his forces on Wednesday to show more readiness and continued preparations to confront internal agents seeking to destabilise his battered country,according to the official SANA news agency.

Assad told his troops on Wednesday that their battle against rebels would determine Syrias fate but his written message gave no clues to his whereabouts two weeks after a bomb attack hit his inner circle.

Assad has not spoken in public since the bombing in Damascus on July 18 killed four of his close security aides although he has been seen on television.

His comments,marking the 67th anniversary of the founding of the Syrian Army,were carried by SANA but there was no immediate broadcast on state-run television. The embattled Syrian leader was speaking a day after Syrian rebels said they had taken control of at least two important police stations in central Aleppo,Syrias commercial heart,maintaining their hold on several neighbourhoods Tuesday despite air assaults and shelling by government troops.

The fate of our people and our nation,past,present and future,depends on this battle, Assad said.

In confronting terrorist criminal gangs the governments usual term for the rebels,the army had proved it had the steely resolve and conscience and that you are the trustees of the peoples values,he said.

Sausan Ghosheh,the spokeswoman for the UN mission in Syria,said that international observers had witnessed warplanes firing in Aleppo. She said the rebels were using heavy weapons including tanks. Yesterday,for the first time,our observers saw firing from a fighter aircraft. We also now have confirmation that the opposition is in a position of having heavy weapons,including tanks, she said,adding that for civilians,there is a shortage of food,fuel,water and gas.

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Earlier in the day,at least 10 volleys of shells lit up the darkened sky and drowned out the Islamic call to prayer. Carloads of rebel fighters shouting God is great sped off towards the fighting.

The battle for Aleppo has become a crucial test for both sides. Neither Assads forces nor the rebels can afford to lose if they hope to prevail in the wider struggle for Syria. Since last months bomb attack,the fighting has become more intense,reaching into Damascus and Aleppo.

Video footage posted on the Internet appeared to show that rebel fighters were carrying out summary executions in Aleppo in much the same way as government forces have been accused of acting in Damascus. One video showed four men identified as members of the pro-Assad Shabbiha militia lined up against a wall and shot in a hail of rifle fire as onlookers shouted God is Greatest. In another video,a cameraman filmed the bodies of about 15 men lying dead at a police station. One rebel fired at the corpse of the station commander,blowing his head off.