ALEPPO, Syria — On July 31, Syrian opposition factions launched a fierce attack on Aleppo in northern Syria. In a first of its kind, the attack involved all of the opposition factions and groups.

Inside opposition-controlled neighborhoods, which have been besieged for almost a month by the Syrian regime, the scene changed completely when the battles erupted July 31. The residents’ moods shifted from confusion and anxiety to a state of optimism that their suffering under the siege was coming to an end. In the meantime, clouds of black smoke billow in the sky as a result of the residents’ burning of tires to prevent regime warplanes from identifying targets.

The residents of Aleppo try to get on with their lives in the early morning hours as warplanes hover in the sky. At times, the regime fires its mortar and artillery shells on Aleppo’s neighborhoods when battles start a few hours before sunset. While these battles raise the fears of citizens, the fighting also gives the residents hope that the siege will end soon.

Britta Haji Hassan, board chairman of the Free Aleppo Council, told Al-Monitor that than 320,000 people are besieged within the opposition-controlled neighborhoods of Aleppo. Extremely difficult and inhumane conditions could be in store for the residents should the blockade continue amid the lack of fuel and the gradual depletion of food stocks.