ALEPPO: This image posted on the Twitter page of Syria’s Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front on Tuesday, shows a Nusra Front tank firing at Syrian troops and pro-government gunmen at the hilltop of Khalsa village in southern Aleppo. —AP ALEPPO: This image posted on the Twitter page of Syria’s Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front on Tuesday, shows a Nusra Front tank firing at Syrian troops and pro-government gunmen at the hilltop of Khalsa village in southern Aleppo. —AP

BEIRUT: The Syrian government said yesterday that German special forces were present, alongside French and American military personnel, in northern Syria, an accusation denied by Germany. Syrian state media said the government strongly condemned the presence of French and German forces in Ain al-Arab, also known as Kobani, and Manbij. "Syria ... considers it explicit and unjustified aggression towards (Syria's) sovereignty and independence," state news agency SANA quoted the foreign ministry as saying.

The US-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) are staging an offensive against Islamic State near Manbij, while Kobani is under the control of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, part of the SDF. Germany's defence ministry said repeated claims by the Syrian government that German special forces were in northern Syria were not and had never been true. "There are no German special forces in Syria. The accusation is false," a ministry spokesman said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian civil war now in its sixth year, said French special forces were building a base for themselves near Kobani. France's defense minister said last week that there were special forces operating in Syria helping the SDF advance towards Manbij. The Observatory also said German, French and American military advisers, and French and American special forces, were assisting the SDF in its fight against Islamic State but had so far remained in a support role and not fought on frontlines.

Meanwhile, at least 70 fighters have been killed in less than 24 hours of fierce clashes between pro-regime forces, jihadists and rebels in Syria's Aleppo province, a monitor said yesterday. Pro-regime fighters - backed by regime and Russian air strikes - retook the villages of Zaytan and Khalasa to the southwest of Aleppo city after losing control of them hours earlier, the Observatory said.

But Al-Nusra Front, Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate, launched a counterattack to retake Khalasa yesterday morning, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. "Khalasa is on a high hill overlooking large parts of the south of Aleppo province," he said. The area overlooks the regime's supply road around the south of Aleppo city, linking the government-held Nayrab airport to the city's southeast and areas controlled by regime troops to its west, he said.

Rebel- and jihadist-held areas in the south of Aleppo province faced heavy strikes and shelling overnight, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria to gather its information. The regime also pounded a key supply route and areas north of Aleppo city overnight, the Observatory said. The Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the regime, reported Russian air strikes on the province yesterday. "Russian fighter jets resumed their missions in Aleppo with force, targeting positions of Al-Nusra Front and allied militias," it said.

Moscow launched air strikes in support of the Damascus regime in September. Aleppo was once Syria's commercial powerhouse, but it has been a battleground since 2012 when rebels seized the east of the city confining the army to the west. In western Aleppo, rebel shelling killed two people and injured another three yesterday, official news agency SANA reported. Syria's war has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011. - Agencies