Syrian rebels has renewed their bid to break a Government siege of eastern Aleppo, shelling regime-held parts of the city hours before a brief Russian-declared ceasefire was due to begin.
State media on Thursday said at least 12 people had been killed in rebel rocket and gunfire on regime-controlled neighbourhoods, after an assault that began with a double car bomb attack.
Rebels have been battling for nearly a week in a desperate bid to break the three-month siege but have so far been unable to push through Government lines in western Aleppo.
The opposition forces yesterdayannounced a new phase in their assault on Government forces in the city’s western outskirts.
“We have started the second phase in our fight to break the siege with heavy artillery fire” on several neighbourhoods, rebel fighter Abu Hamza told AFP on the edges of Aleppo.
Thick black smoke billowed out of the Dahiyet al-Assad district, where rebels had lit tyres to try to shield themselves from warplanes circling above.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the “most intense fighting” was on the edges of the Halab al-Jadida neighbourhood.
The clashes on Aleppo’s western outskirts could be heard in the city’s eastern districts, an AFP correspondent there said.