Battle for Aleppo intensifies Syrian conflict

With 200,000 fleeing Aleppo, fighting in Syria intensified in the 16-month long struggle opposing the rule of Bashar al-Assad. While fighting still grips Homs after a brutal siege, the conflict has moved north to finally include commercial hub Aleppo - largely spared until now - a city of over two million. Both the Syrian army and the rebel Free Syrian Army claim advances in the battle for Aleppo, which began in earnest over the weekend. More pockets of conflict rage in other locations within Syria as well. Gathered here are images made available in the last week from Syria, where independent news coverage has been limited and difficult. Some of the images are from third parties and transmitted without confirmation via international wire services as they were received. -- Lane Turner (32 photos total)

A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages)

Doctors treat a wounded child allegedly injured by Syrian government forces shelling, at a field hospital in Qusayr on July 14, 2012. (Syrian opposition Shaam News Network/AFP/GettyImages) #

Syrian men line up to buy bread at the only open bakery left in Al-Bueda on July 23, 2012. (Antonio Pampliega/AFP/GettyImages) #

A Syrian rebel enters a house in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012, during fighting between rebels and Syrian troops. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages) #

Syrian rebels hunt for snipers after attacking the municipality building in the city center of Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages) #

Syrians run for cover as a helicopter hovers over Aleppo on July 24, 2012. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages) #

A Syrian girl lies on top of luggage at a makeshift refugee camp inside Iraq after crossing the Iraqi-Syrian border at Albu Kamal-Qaim, the main border post between the two countries, July 24, 2012. (Saad Shalash/Reuters) #

Syrian rebels break their fast with the iftar meal during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in the northern city of Aleppo on July 24, 2012. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages) #

A girl pauses on a street in Homs on July 25, 2012. (Yazen Homsy/Reuters) #

Fighters from the Syrian opposition rest in a former primary school in Aleppo on July 25, 2012. UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the world "to stop the slaughter." (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages) #

The mother of Usame Mircan, who was allegedly killed by a Syrian government sniper, mourns over his body with family and friends in Aleppo on July 25, 2012. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages) #

Civilians take cover as fighters from the Syrian opposition clash with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo on July 25, 2012. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages) #

Free Syrian Army opposition fighters detain policemen after overrunning the Shaar district police station in Aleppo on July 25, 2012. (Pierre Torres/AFP/GettyImages) #

A Syrian man carries badly wounded five-year-old Mohammed Amumrej after he was hurt during shelling by Syrian government forces in the center of Aleppo late on July 25, 2012. The boy later died. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages) #

Opposition fighters prepare home-made firebombs in Aleppo where rebel forces overran the Shaar district police station on July 25, 2012. (Pierre Torres/AFP/GettyImages) #

Syrian people leave the city center after shelling by Syrian government forces in Aleppo late on July 26, 2012. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages) #

Members of a Syrian refugee family walk through the Domiz refugee camp in the northern Iraqi of province Dohuk on July 25, 2012. The number of refugees that have fled to Iraq's Kurdistan region exceeds 11,000. (Thaier al-Sudani/Reuters) #

A Syrian refugee family rests inside at the Domiz refugee camp in Dohuk province in Iraq on July 25, 2012. (Thaier al-Sudani/Reuters) #

A Syrian refugee girl looks out from behind the fence at Yayladagi refugee camp in Hatay province, near the Turkish-Syrian border, on July 27, 2012. (Umit Bektas/Reuters) #

Syrian mourners bury the body of a man killed in violence in Binnish in the northeastern province of Idlib on July 26, 2012. (Syrian opposition Shaam News Network/AFP/GettyImages) #

Women react at the graves of their sons, whom activists say were killed by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad, in a cemetery in Homs on July 27, 2012. (Syrian opposition Shaam News Network/Reuters) #

A man mourns over the body of a person allegedly killed during bombardment by government forces in Qusayr, near Homs, on July 27, 2012. (Syrian opposition Shaam News Network/AFP/GettyImages) #

Syrian Kurds stand in the street in Jinderes, near Aleppo, on July 22, 2012, as Kurdish activists on the Syria-Turkey border started taking control of towns in the area without encountering much resistance from the forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages) #

A Free Syrian Army member takes position while people flee after hearing shelling in the Aleppo district of al- Sukkari on July 29, 2012. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters) #

Free Syrian Army members interrogate a man who was arrested while stealing from vacant houses in Aleppo on July 29, 2012. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters) #

A Free Syrian Army member walks past the body of what they say is a member of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's shabiha militia in the Aleppo district of al-Sukkari on July 29, 2012. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters) #

A Free Syrian Army member shows the body of a civilian he said was killed during a shelling by government forces in Aleppo on July 29, 2012. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters) #

Girls walk on debris next to damaged buildings in Marat al-Numan near the northern province of Idlib on July 27, 2012. (Syrian opposition Shaam News Network/Reuters) #

Syrian men pray over the body of a child allegedly killed during a government forces operation in al-Qusayr on July 28, 2012. (Syrian opposition Shaam News Network/AFP/GettyImages) #

Fighters carrying food supplies run for cover along a street in the Salaheddin district of Aleppo on July 29, 2012. (Pierre Torres/AFP/GettyImages) #

Syrian rebel fighters celebrate on top of a tank captured from government forces at a checkpoint in the village of Anadan, near Aleppo, on July 30 2012, after a 10-hour battle. The strategic checkpoint of Anadan secures the rebel fighters free movement between the northern city of Aleppo and Turkey. (Iskandar Kat/AFP/GettyImages) #

A rebel fighter aims his rifle in the Salaheddin district of Aleppo on July 29, 2012. (Pierre Torres/AFP/GettyImages) #