Hundreds Of Families Flee As Regime Pushes To Retake Rebel-Held Area

Hundreds Of Families Flee As Regime Pushes To Retake Rebel-Held Area: By Dominic Evans and Khaled Yacoub Oweis BEIRUT/AMMAN July 21 (Reuters) - Syrian soldiers and armoured troops pushed into a rebel-held district of Aleppo on Saturday after striking back in Damascus against fighters emboldened by a bomb attack against President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle. Activists in Aleppo, Syria's biggest city and a northern commercial hub, said hundreds of families were fleeing residential districts after the military swept into the Saladin district, which had been in rebel hands for two days. Fighting was also reported in the densely-populated, poor neighbourhood of al-Sakhour. "The sound of bombardment has been non-stop since last night. For the first time we feel Aleppo has turned into a battle zone," a housewife said by phone from the city. An escalation in the fighting in Aleppo would prove another challenge to Assad, still reeling from the assassination of four of his top security officials and a six-day attack on the capital which rebels have named "Damascus Volcano". The president has not spoken in public since the killings, and failed to attend funeral ceremonies for his brother-in-law and two other slain officials on Friday. The clashes in Aleppo came as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was sending his peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous and top military adviser Gen. Babacar Gaye to Syria to assess the situation. In Damascus, Assad's forces hit back overnight.