WARNING - VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT

Only bodies and crippled vehicles appear to remain on this street - and it's silent aside from the automatic gunfire in this amateur video.

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.

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.

And in a small town outside of Aleppo - a room full of bodies.

According to the narrator, they were six family members killed in random shelling.

Reuters can't independently verify amateur videos uploaded to the internet.

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.

Neither Assad's forces nor the rebels can afford to lose if they hope to prevail in the wider struggle for Syria.

Travis Brecher, Reuters