Rebel shelling in Aleppo kills 3 children, 1 adult

Syrian insurgents have kept up their shelling of government-controlled areas of Aleppo, killing at least seven people, including three children, state TV reported.

“Russian and Syrian aircraft have not carried out any flights over the city of Aleppo in 13 days”, said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov today, reported Sputnik.

Abdurrahman said several civilians were reportedly suffering from breathing difficulties following an insurgent attack in al-Hamadaniyeh on Sunday.

Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the city. Presumed government or Russian jets were also heard flying overhead.

Such attacks could amount to war crimes, he said. “Fighting is still ongoing but the intensity has dropped”.

A coalition of rebels including al-Qaeda’s-Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army are continuing their offensive against the government-held western half of Aleppo.

United Nations envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura expressed concern for what he called a high number of indiscriminately launched rockets by the rebels.

Syrian state media said militants had fired shells containing chlorine gas at a residential area of the government-held western part of the city, al-Hamdaniya. Pro-government troops have kept up a ground offensive.

Since then, they have unleashed a salvo of rockets, artillery shells, and vehicle bombs around the western government-controlled districts. They are hoping this will dissuade the government and Russian air force from using heavy weapons and aerial munitions.

“There are heavy street battles and the regime is now retreating from the area”.

A Red Crescent aid worker inspects scattered medical supplies after an airstrike on a medical depot in the rebel-held Tariq al-Bab neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, April 30.

Aleppo, once Syria’s second largest city before the start of war in the country, has been a major frontline in the fight against different Takfiri militant groups.

Sakkar, said “all the revolutionary factions, without exception, are participating in the battle”. The Observatory said hundreds of mortars were lobbed.

The latest violence also wounded 280 people in western Aleppo, Syria’s General Command of the Armed Forces said.

“Of these there were 190 former Iraqi Security Forces officers”.

He said regime forces had tried twice to overrun Minyan, a village west of Aleppo captured by rebels on Saturday, but failed.

Amnesty International has condemned the “indiscriminate attacks” on civilian areas by the armed opposition.

Putin rejected the military’s request for the resumption of airstrikes on the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo.

Islamic State fighters did clash with the Syrian army on Friday at a government-held airbase 37km (23 miles) east of Aleppo, next to territory the jihadist group already controls, the Observatory reported.

Separately, the Iranian and Syrian foreign ministers were meeting in Moscow with their Russian counterpart to discuss the war.

Charles Lister, a Syrian expert at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told the New York Times that 11 of the 20 groups involved in the offensive had been vetted by the Central Intelligence Agency and provided with antitank missiles and other weaponry.