- NEW: State TV: Regime forces start to "cleanse" Karnaz from "terrorist armed gangs"
- NEW: At least 48 people are killed across Syria on Saturday, opposition activists say
- An Aleppo resident says the regime has cut off fuel and food from some areas
- A defecting legislator urges Syria's army to protect citizens, not the ruling family
(CNN) -- Parts of Syria's largest city saw the fiercest clashes yet in the country's 16-month crisis on Saturday, opposition activists said.
Government forces fired "nonstop shelling" early Saturday in Aleppo, where at least six people were killed, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. Across the country, at least 48 people were killed Saturday, the LCC said.
Regime and rebel fighters have clashed in Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub, for more than a week. But Malik Kurdi, deputy commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army, said Friday that both sides are preparing for a bigger confrontation the regime is calling "the mother of all battles."
The huge urban center resembles a "ghost town" in many areas, with only fighters on the streets, Kurdi said.
"People are fleeing the city towards the countryside. I think they are sensing that a huge battle is about to take place, a decisive one," Kurdi said.
As the battle for Aleppo rages on, regime forces are preventing fuel and food from entering neighborhoods controlled by rebel fighters, opposition activists said.
"They are besieging our area," said Abu Omar, a resident of the Salaheddin neighorhood. "There is no electricity in some parts, and food is scarce."
But the threat of heavy violence wasn't limited to Aleppo. Syrian state-run media alluded to a possible showdown in Hama province.
"In a response the constant pleas of the residents in the area, a unit from our armed forces started to cleanse Karnaz town in Hama from the armed terrorist gangs," Syrian state TV reported.
For more than a year, the Syrian government has blamed violence in the country on vaguely-defined armed terrorist gangs.
The former head of the U.N. observer mission in Syria said "it's only a matter of time before this regime will fall" and "time is on the side of the rebels."
"It can take a lot of time or it can go quickly, it's impossible to say. ... It is a cycle of violence," Maj. Gen. Robert Mood said. "Sooner or later we will reach a climax with the fall of the regime," he told CNN.
On Friday, The opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria reported a "horrific massacre" in the city's Fardos district, where regime forces indiscriminately shelled homes.
Syrian state TV, meanwhile, said that "special security authorities" destroyed five pickup vehicles equipped with machine guns used by "terrorists" in the Aleppo countryside. State TV reported casualties from the vehicles.
At least 15 of the 100 people slain across Syria on Friday were from Aleppo province, the LCC said.
World leaders urged President Bashar al-Assad's regime to stop its assault.
"I urge the Syrian government to halt their offensive," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday. "The violence from both sides must stop for the sake of the suffering civilians of Syria."
Iran, meanwhile, emphasized its support for al-Assad's government. Its energy minister, Majid Namjou, vowed his government "will not leave Syria alone in such a difficult situation," according the state-run Press TV.
The report said the two nations signed a deal Thursday to expand sharing of electricity and water, with Namjou saying Iranian firms are ready to rebuild damaged power plant facilities.
U.S. officials, meanwhile, have increased contacts with the Syrian opposition in recent weeks, a senior U.S. official said Friday.
"The U.S. and others are playing more of an advisory role to the opposition now," the official said.
But U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said Friday he's not aware of any discussions about giving the opposition any "lethal support."
The rebels are composed largely of soldiers who have defected from the Syrian military. But many civilians -- including students, shopkeepers, real-estate agents and members of the president's ruling Baath party -- also are trying to end four decades of Assad family rule.
Mustafa Abdullah, a rebel commander in Aleppo, told CNN that rebels have set up medical clinics in homes and have plans to transport and evacuate anyone who is wounded in the fight for Aleppo.
Asked if these fighters had enough ammunition to withstand a government siege, Abdullah simply said, "no."
He recalled the relentless government attack earlier this year on the city of Homs, where entire neighborhoods were reduced to ruins.
Aleppo "will be just like Homs," Abdullah said, and wept at the thought.
The LCC says more than 16,000 people have been killed since the Syrian crisis erupted in March 2011. The U.N. secretary-general said this week that almost 17,000 people have died.
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