Inside Syria: Rebel victory in Aleppo could soon be shortlived

Rebel fighters in Aleppo seem barely able to believe the scale of their own victory.

The road leading into the largest city in Syria is strewn with the wreckage of President Assad's army in retreat.

And inside the city, the rebel commander tells his men they're on their way to the Presidential Palace and that the death of Assad is not far off.

But in reality the rebels are desperately short of arms and ammunition, and faced with government jet fighters in the skies and army reinforcements on the way, the opposition look soon to be vastly outnumbered.

The Syrian army has ordered an armoured column to advance on the city and begin pounding rebels there with artillery and attack helicopters, opposition activists said.

Even so, the local rebel leader says his men aren't scared of the tanks and helicopters.

"It's because we have a cause," he tells me. "We are fighting for our freedom."

And for civilians, fighting in and around Aleppo is likely to prompt an exodus across the Turkish border, where some Syrian refugees are already complaining about poor conditions and have clashed with riot police in disputes over food.

• Activists say 1,261 people have been killed since the fighting intensified in Damascus on July 15, which would have made last week by far the bloodiest in the Syrian uprising so far.