WARNING - VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT<br/> <br />Only bodies and crippled vehicles appear to remain on this street - and it's silent aside from the automatic gunfire in this amateur video.<br/> <br />Here in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, rebel fighters claim to have seized three police stations on Wednesday while fighting the army for control of a strategically important district.<br/> <br />But another video uploaded to a social media website appears to show trucks carrying tanks and other government reinforcements descending on the city, which has already sustained a brutal barrage of mortar fire.<br/> <br />And in a small town outside of Aleppo - a room full of bodies.<br/> <br />According to the narrator, they were six family members killed in random shelling.<br/> <br />Reuters can't independently verify amateur videos uploaded to the internet.<br/> <br />The battle for Aleppo -- dubbed the 'Mother of all battles' by the government -- has become a crucial test for both sides in the 17-month-old conflict.<br/> <br />Neither Assad's forces nor the rebels can afford to lose if they hope to prevail in the wider struggle for Syria.<br/> <br />Travis Brecher, Reuters
