Hamza al-Khatib, head of a hospital in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, said that 91 people had been killed in Friday’s bombardment while the Civil Defence rescue group that operates in opposition areas said 40 buildings were destroyed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring body gave an initial death toll of 27. Media reports described the airstrikes as the “most powerful yet”.
Warplanes targeted rebel-held districts of Aleppo in a second day of intense bombardment on Friday after the Syrian army declared an offensive to fully capture what was Syria’s biggest city before the war.
The Syrian army had announced the start of a new military offensive in the rebel-held east of the city of Aleppo on Thursday, signalling a potential further escalation in a bombing campaign by Russian and Syrian jets that rebels say already intensified in the previous 24 hours.
State media quoted the army’s military headquarters in Aleppo as urging civilians in eastern parts of the city to avoid areas where “terrorists” were located and saying it had prepared exit points for those who wanted to flee, including rebels.
The army announcement did not say whether the campaign would also include a ground incursion.
Warplanes struck Kafr Dael, a town close to Aleppo on Thursday. According to media reports, at least 12 people were killed in the bombing.
In its late-night announcement on Thursday, the Syrian military had announced “the start of its operations in the eastern districts of Aleppo.” It had warned residents to stay away from “the headquarters and positions of the armed terrorist gangs”.
On Friday a Syrian military source denied the army was targeting civilians, saying it was accurately targeting “terrorist positions” in Aleppo.
Western diplomats fear a bloodbath if the government unleashes a full-blown assault to capture the besieged opposition-held zone, where 250,000 civilians are still trapped.
The assault left no doubt that the government of President Bashar al-Assad and its Russian allies had spurned a plea from US Secretary of State John Kerry to halt flights to resurrect the ceasefire, which collapsed on Monday after a week.
Recovering full control of the rebels’ last significant urban area would be the most important victory of the war so far for Assad, strengthening his control over Syria’s most populous and strategically important regions.
The war pits Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia, Iran and Arab Shi’ite militias, against Sunni rebel groups, including some supported by Washington, Turkey and Gulf Arab states.
The United States and Russia have been leading diplomatic efforts to negotiate a lasting ceasefire and have been discussing how to coordinate attacks on militants from the Islamic State and the group formally known as the Nusra Front.
(With inputs from Reuters and The Telegraph.)
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