At least 14 killed as air strikes on Aleppo resume

Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm, a rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

At least 14 people were killed after air strikes in eastern Aleppo, while six other people including children died when a school was shelled by insurgents in southern Syria.

Shelling was also reported in the capital, Damascus, with mortar shells fired by opposition groups landing in the residential Qasaa district and close to the Umayyad Mosque, wounding an unspecified number of people.

In Aleppo, air strikes mostly hit the Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, Zakaria Malhifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim rebel group told Reuters. "There is renewed bombardment and it is heavy," he said.

The observatory said at least eight people were killed in Bustan al-Qasr and Fardous neighbourhoods.

Moscow and Damascus reduced air raids in the northern city last week. The Syrian army said it was partly to allow civilians to leave opposition-held eastern neighbourhoods.

Government offer

The Syrian government said rebels holed up in Aleppo can leave with their families if they lay down their arms. Insurgents denounced that offer as a deception.

President Bashar al-Assad seeks the complete recapture of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the 5½-year war, and which has been divided between government and opposition control for years. Mr Assad's ally Russia has meanwhile built up its forces in Syria since a brief ceasefire collapsed last month.

Russian role

Russia’s intervention a year ago has helped the government side gain the upper hand against rebels on many frontlines in the Syrian conflict, including Aleppo where the opposition-held sector has been completely encircled for weeks.

Insurgents had advanced elsewhere against government forces and their allies, including in Hama province further south where they captured a series of towns and villages last month. Government forces have regained some of those areas in recent days, however.

In the southern city of Deraa, which is split between government and rebel control, insurgent shelling of a school killed at least six people including children, the observatory and state media reported.

A separate mortar attack hit a government complex in the heart of the city with reports of casualties, a Deraa resident said, adding that mosques were appealing for blood donations.

Hizbullah view

Meanwhile, the leader of Lebanon’s Hizbullah movement, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said the Middle East was in a phase of escalating tension and there appeared to be no prospect of a political solution to the war in Syria.

Nasrallah, whose Iranian-backed group is fighting alongside Mr Assad, criticised Saudi Arabia over its military campaign in Yemen, saying the Saudi leadership was pushing their country to “the abyss”.

Nasrallah was making a rare live televised speech before thousands of supporters in Beirut, to mark Shia Islam’s annual Ashura commemorations. Speaking about Syria, Mr Nasrallah said “the theatre was open to more tension, escalation and confrontation”. – (Reuters/PA)