Killed in Rebel Shelling in Syria’s Aleppo: Monitor

Pro-government forces have the road, known as Castello Road, within firing range.

Government airstrikes and shelling of rebel-held areas also resulted in civilian casualties.

In Aleppo, forces of President Bashar Assad strategically took actions against rebel positions and patrolled the only road leading to the rebel-held half of the city – which, with more than 2 million people, is Syria’s most populated.

“There is now fierce fighting under way, but the opposition has not advanced because of the heavy aerial bombardment the regime is carrying out on the areas where fighting is under way”.

The government advance put its forces within striking distance of a major supply route for the rebels, effectively putting opposition-held areas under siege.

“Currently nobody can get in or out of Aleppo”, said Zakaria Malahifji, a senior official in the rebel group Fastaqim.

The state-controlled Syrian media acknowledged the fighting outside Aleppo and other parts of the war-torn country, but said the government troops were only targeting “terrorists”. “We may have enough goods and medicine for a month”, Aleppo-based media activist Mujahid Abu Joud said.

Early on Monday more than 300 shells fired by rebels hit western, government-held neighborhoods in Aleppo killing five people and wounding dozens more, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Reuters spoke to rebel fighters in the area, providing a sense of the situation on the ground. “There was heavy regime air cover in the night”.

People walk amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Kalasa in Aleppo, Syria on April 28, 2016.

The Observatory said at least one vehicle was targeted on the road early on Sunday, adding that it was unclear if it carried civilians or fighters.

“The objective of these attacks appears to be a campaign to sever opposition supply lines into the city through Castillo Road”.

A Defense Ministry statement on Saturday reported by the state news agency Tass said the incident occurred Friday east of Palmyra.

We review the key developments in Syria, including ongoing violence during the temporary nationwide cease-fire, Russian Federation and the USA agreeing to increased military coordination and Syrian army forces cutting the only road into Aleppo.