President Bashar al-Assad is visiting the city of Aleppo to take a first-hand look at the fighting between government forces and foreign terrorists and has ordered 30,000 more troops into the battle, a Lebanese paper said on Tuesday.

Al-Diyar newspaper, which is known for its pro-Assad stance, said the president had flown
by helicopter at dawn from the presidential palace in Damascus to Aleppo.
It did not specify what day the trip started but said that Assad was still in Aleppo.

"President Assad ordered units 5 and 6, estimated to be 30,000 soldiers and 2,000
personnel carriers, to move from Hama to Aleppo and to attack any occupied areas of Aleppo province from the Turkish border," it said.

Terrorists mounted a new offensive last week to seize the city, which was until July firmly
under Assad's control. They claim to hold most of the Old City but are struggling to hang on to their positions in the face of heavy artillery fire.

The terrorists forces are in the east and Assad's forces in the west of Aleppo. Fires started
by the terrorists have gutted the historic market in the Old City, a world heritage site. The paper said that Assad gave orders that Aleppo must be "cleansed" during the visit.