[nb: keep para with Abu Saeed al-Halabi at end please]
AT LEAST 74 civilians, including 25 children, have died after an offensive by Syrian insurgents targeted the government-held part of Aleppo, monitors have reported.
The insurgents launched the assault eight days ago, hoping to break a months-long government siege on the rebel-held eastern part of the city, which has been subjected to months of devastating Syrian and Russian air strikes.
The insurgents have seized a district on Aleppo’s edge and a nearby village.
While the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed 74 people had died, the Syrian military claimed that the first three days of the rebel offensive killed more than 80 people.
Rights groups and the UN have sharply criticised the rebels over the shelling of western Aleppo districts, which has killed a number of civilians.
The criticism had mainly been focused on the government and its allies, accusing them of indiscriminate shelling and air strikes on rebel-held areas.
Moscow declared a halt to air strikes on eastern Aleppo on October 18, but Syrian and Russian warplanes have continued to strike around the city’s edges and in the surrounding province.
The strikes, which have hit a school and several medical facilities, have killed more than 400 civilians in less than a month and wounded more than 2,000.
On Friday, a renewed 10-hour Russian offer of a moratorium on air strikes expired. None of the estimated 275,000 residents of eastern Aleppo departed during the unilateral ceasefire.
The arrival of a Russian aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, in the Mediterranean suggests Moscow may intend to escalate its operations.
The chairman of the Russian parliament’s defence committee, Vladimir Shamanov, said the carrier’s arrival is part of a rotation schedule and also “a show of the flag”. On Saturday, the country’s pro-government Sama TV said another Russian ship, the frigate Admiral Grigorovich – which can fire cruise missiles – has arrived in the Mediterranean to “reinforce the other military ships already present at the Syrian coast”.
There were no reports of weekend air strikes in Aleppo, but Syrian activists reported air raids in the surrounding province.
TV footage appeared to show missiles targeting the town of Darat Izza in north-western Aleppo province. A team of first responders known as the Syrian Civil Defence, or White Helmets, said at least three people were killed in the air strikes and 15 wounded.
There has been an intense aerial bombing campaign in the western Aleppo countryside and nearby Idlib province in recent days. Rebels said it appeared to be an attempt to sever their supply lines.
An insurgent alliance known as the Army of Conquest, which includes the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front, has led the attack on western Aleppo.
It is the second time insurgents have tried to break the siege imposed on the territory since July. An earlier offensive that breached the siege in August for a few weeks was repelled.
Abu Saeed al-Halabi, a Dutch member of Fatah al-Sham based in Aleppo, said Russia has intensified its air strikes during the insurgent-led offensive on Aleppo’s western countryside, “the proposed end destination” for the potential evacuees from eastern Aleppo.
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