(Zaman Al Wasl)- A new round of deadly air strikes on Aleppo city has killed seven people in al-Kallaseh neighborhood on Thursday, activists said in an initial death toll.
Aleppo Media Center said women and children were among the casualties.
Late on Wednesday, about 30 people were killed in devastating air strike hit al-Quds hospital where medics, sick children and Aleppo's last pediatrician passed away.
The military buildup in northern Syria, coupled with heavy fighting and mounting civilian casualties, spells the end of a cease-fire that for two months brought some relief to a war-weary country. The renewed violence is ushering in what could be an even more ruinous chapter in the 5-year-old conflict.
About 250 civilians have been killed in the past week, nearly half of them around Aleppo. There has even been shelling in Damascus, along with a car bomb - both rarities for the capital.
Aleppo is likely to be the focus of the next phase of the war, with both sides preparing for a major battle, according to senior rebel leaders and opposition activists who spokes to The Associated Press.
Government forces have been mobilizing soldiers, equipment and ammunition in preparation for a military action in Aleppo, said Maj. Jamil Saleh, leader of Tajammu Alezzah, a Free Syrian Army faction that has received US-delivered TOW anti-tank missiles.
He said his group, which operates primarily in Hama and Latakia, has sent troops to Aleppo to help the rebels ward off government advances. He described the airstrikes and artillery shelling in the former commercial capital for the last week as “preparatory” work for a major campaign.
The city was the focus of government efforts that succeeded in almost completely choking off rebels holed up in some neighborhoods before the US and Russia engineered the cease-fire on Feb. 27.
The truce held surprisingly well for weeks, underlining the exhaustion on all sides. Formally called a “cessation of hostilities,” it was never meant to be complete because it excluded extremists such as the Islamic State group and its rival al-Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front. The presence of Nusra in almost every contested area has allowed the Syrian army and its Russian allies to target opposition-held areas while also claiming not to have technically violated the cease-fire. (With AP)
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