we're hearing that regular troops have entered and retaken the salahuddin neighborhood. rebel commanders say it's not true and they inflicted heavy casualties on the government forces detroying between one and four of the government tanks and they have not fleeted any ground at this point. >> that was ben wedeman inside syria. >>> another story we're watching closely is the mission to mars. rover is on its third day on the red planet. this is one of the new images that nasa released this afternoon. it's a panoramic view of the mars horizon. the team at the jet propulsion laboratory pieced it together. what struck them and how much is mars like earth? >> the thing that really struck the science team about this image is you would be forgiven for thinking that thnasa is tryg to pull a fast one on you. a little l.a. smog coming in there. the thing that's amazing about this is to a certain extent, you see how earth-like this seems looking at that landscape. >> that's pretty incredible. yesterday, engineers released the first color photo from mars. there it is. all of it more

we're hearing from the official syrian media that regular troops have entered and retaken the salahuddinthe entrance of aleppo. rebel commanders say it's not true. they inflicted heavy casualties on the government forces destroying anywhere from one and four of the government tanks and that they have not ceded any ground. >> i know you've been following this closely over the past few days. i think we should be reminding our viewers that 17,000 people have died in the fighting so far in syria. however, civilians are trying to go about their lives as you say. i'd like to hear more just about the difficulties. just yesterday we were speaking with hala and she said getting bread has been a problem. that goes to show how difficult it is to live inside syria as the fighting continues. talk a bit more about that, ben. >> reporter: bread is difficult. people have to line up for hours to get just one loaf of bread per person in the family per day. at the same time they're suffering from electricity supplies. they don't have any cooking gas. one woman cooks on firewood she collects in the street a

. >> the regime has tried to retake salahuddin for three days, but it has failed and suffered heavy losses in life, weaponry, and tanks. >> it is impossible to verify those claims or those that activists are fighting their way into the city center. the regime appears to be relying on combat, aircraft, and artillery attacks, but it is not just the commercial capital that has come under fire. other parts of the region also bear the scars of war. 30 kilometers away, it has been devastated. rebel fighters from the free syrian army say they now control the area, but most residents have fled. those who flee to turkey are safe, but often require urgent medical treatment. >> i came home and family house struck by a missile. my wife and my son were dead. my daughter lost her eye, and my other daughter lost her fingers. >> the united nations refugee agency estimates that last weekend alone, some 2000 people fled the area in and around aleppo. >> while the fighting continues in syria, tens of thousands of people are on the move trying to escape the violence. >> meanwhile, journalists are trying to ge

>> the rebels have confirmed their withdrawal from the strategically important neighborhood of salahuddin, but commanders say they are preparing a new offensive and that the battle is far from lost. syria's closest regional ally, iran, has been in talks over how to end the bloodshed. the iranian foreign minister had harsh words for the syrian opposition and accused western powers of stoking the conflict. >> explosions, the kidnapping of civilians and foreign pilgrims, the use of human shields and the uptick in extremist activity -- these activities are supported by some regional and international parties. this indicates that agenda is beyond syria are being pursued in the region. >> western and gulf arab nations were not invited. the syrian regime is trying to maintain the appearance of political normalcy. president assad named the former health minister the country's new prime minister. his predecessor reportedly defected several days ago to join the rebellion. as the power struggle continues, more and more serious are fleeing their embattled homeland. more than 100 were crammed onto the

we're going to go to the mush hud neighborhood which is a adjacent to salahuddin.hey have largely retaken but everything everyone says with a great big sack of salt. he's saying at the intersection go faster. we're going through an interest where he says to drive fast. kind of get onto gear. we're just going through this intersection. we're good. it was just that road here. they're saying there's a sniper that's shooting. he's saying go back and drive fast through the intersection because there's a sniper. he said get down. get down. get down. that's all right. you're fine. just get down. even if it's uncomfortable just get down. all right. okay. we made it past that one. okay. now is a good time to get out and get our bearings. what are you doing? he's going to take us between the buildings. we'll park the car there. >> ben wedeman and that was one intersection to get the story here on cnn. our thanks to ben and our crew. unbelievab unbelievable. >>> new york to l.a., 40 minutes. new york to london, an hour. the military testing out a hyper sonic jet that's so fas

most of the civilians have fled the neighborhoods of salahuddin and others that are being shelled.lse to go. they are homeless. you have tens of thousands of aleppo residents sleeping out of doors, in public parks. i'm hearing for the first time that bread is running short. just ordinary every day bread. . ordinary everyday bread. bakeries are running out of flour. the longer this goes on, the bigger and dramatic the situation will become. for ordinary civilians who don't want any part in the fighting. so you have a situation also where people are afraid for their own security because there are no police in the streets anymore. so they're concerned that, you know, they're in their homes hunkered down, but what about all these people who don't have bread, who have nothing to feed their children? at some point law and order is going to start breaking down in aleppo. it's not just the fighting. it's just everyday security that's a problem. so it's a disaster on so many levels. >> something we obviously need to monitor in addition to everything else that's going on in syria. we have to

when we entered the city about ten hours ago, we entered through salahuddin, an area where much is taking place. the bombardment is pretty steady. every four or five minutes you hear a large thud, fighter artillery or tanks firing into th the parts of the city controlled by the syrian army. other areas that are also under the rebel control, there's an odd scene of people going about their business. bakeries open. children riding their bikes around. all the while you hear this constant skuds of artillery and other bombs coming in. it's a lot of worry that the syrian government is preparing foreign defenses within aleppo itself to try to defeat the rebels. the rebels are telling us they don't have much in the way of weaponry and ammunition but they have their faith on their side. >> you reported that the rebels hold about 60% of aleppo. you also spoke to the fact that people are in some cases going about their business. i'm so curious. so much has been made about the fighting. what about the civilians? how are they making out? >> reporter: they are in the areas controlled by the rebels. it'

the rebels have been forced to back out of one key neighborhood sauled salahuddin.der intense aerial and artillery bombardment. they say that hundreds of families have takin shelter in schools and that many of these families have previously fled from other cities and towns across the country that were previously devastated by the fighting fighting. here in turkey we have seen more than 1700 people in the last hours along. refugees fleeing across the border. more than 52,000 in turkey. those numbers have jumped in the last couple of days. this is likely to be the topic of discussion. one of the topics of discussion between u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton and senior members of the turkish government. > bin laden raid caught on video. we'll tell you who is big guy is and we'll see the drama play out. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: slow ] [ barks ] ♪ [ upbeat ] [ barks ] beneful playful life is made with energy-packed wholesome grains... and real beef and egg. to help you put more play in your day. >>> i'm going to miss that music when the olympics are over. u.s. men, 4 b