Beirut: The Syrian army shelled several areas of Aleppo on Thursday, a day after a string of bombings claimed by a shadowy Islamist group killed at least 48 people in the country’s second city, a watchdog said.
“The army shelled the Bab al-Nayrab, Salaheddin, Mashhad, Bab al-Nasr and Sakhur districts,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A representative image. Reuters.
The districts are located in various parts of the city, with Salaheddin in the southwest and Sakhur in the northeast.
The army fought battles with rebels in several neighbourhoods of the northern city, including Saif al-Dawla and Sakhur, the Observatory said.
“The fighting led to the destruction of an army tank and the killing of several army troops,” it added.
On Wednesday at least 236 people were killed in violence across Syria, including 116 civilians, 31 rebels and 41 soldiers, said the Observatory, which collates information supplied by a network of activists and medics on the ground in Syria.
Among the dead were the 48 victim of the bombings in Aleppo, most of them soldiers.
More than 31,000 people have been killed in violence in Syria since the outbreak of an anti-regime revolt in March, 2011, which began as peaceful protests for reform but morphed into an armed insurgency when demonstrations were brutally crushed.
Most rebels, like the population, are Sunni in a country dominated by a minority Alawite regime. Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
PTI
