Roundup: Violence intensifies in Aleppo amid talks of imminent pacification

At least 28 people were killed and tens of others wounded on Tuesday in a renewed rebel rocket shelling on government-controlled areas in the northern hard-hit city of Aleppo, amid Russian remarks about a possible imminent truce in the city.

The shelling started to blindly hit the government-controlled districts in Aleppo, before the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and like-minded groups followed the shelling with a wide-scale offensive on western Aleppo from different directions.

The General Command of the Syrian Army said the military forces were confronting the offensive, inflicting hefty losses among the assailants.

"The Syrian army is currently confronting the attacks and the sources of fire, leaving big losses among the terrorist groups," the military statement said.

Tuesday's shelling also targeted a hospital in the al-Muhafaza district, killing three women and injuring others, including children.

The Syrian national TV aired footages of the targeted hospital, showing destruction and blood stains on the floor.

Also, the jihadists detonated a car bomb at the al-Zahra district, which they were trying to storm, leaving unknown losses.

The TV said the bombing in al-Zahra was so big and rattled entire Aleppo, showing the wreckage of the car bomb.

A mosque in al-Zahra went on fire as a result of the relentless shelling, the national TV said.

Pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said the rebels in eastern Aleppo have booby-trapped tunnels with over 40 tons of explosives. It added that the Nusra Front was trying to bring in reinforcements from the northwestern province of Idlib to help the offensive in Aleppo.

It said that the Syrian warplanes have destroyed convoys of Nusra fighters coming from Idlib, adding that the war jets also struck the Nusra supply lines east of Aleppo.

The attack on Tuesday was the biggest the Nusra Front has unleashed in ten days.

Violence has been reported to renew in Aleppo, when the al-Nusra Front and likeminded groups unleashed repetitive large-scale attacks on Syrian military positions in southern Aleppo over the past ten days.

The attacks were intensified by shelling on the government-controlled parts of the city, as the rebels in eastern Aleppo were trying to advance into the western part.

The Syrian army said it had repelled several attacks, but the shelling continued, prompting airstrikes to pound the rebel-held areas.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based watchdog group, over 244 civilians, including 43 children and 27 women over 18, were killed by the rebels shelling on government areas and Syrian airstrikes on rebel-held areas over the past 10 days.

The state-run TV said over 100 civilians were killed in government-controlled areas, adding that over 200 others were wounded.

Due to the situation in Aleppo, the Education Ministry in Syria postponed the schools' exams in Aleppo till next week.

The intensified violence reflects the gap between the government and the rebels, as well as the broader international differences between the countries that support each party of the conflict.

The Syrian government side has warned that the U.S.-Russian-backed truce, which went into effect last February in Syria, was violated by the attacking rebels in Aleppo.

The United States and Russia agreed on Friday on a "regime of silence" to take place near the capital Damascus and the northwestern province of Latakia to shore up the falling truce.

Still, Aleppo was not included, and the civilians were the ones paying the price.

Recent reports said Russia and the U.S. were working to include Aleppo in the ceasefire truce.

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that a cessation of hostilities in Aleppo will be announced in the coming hours.

Lavrov added that the U.S. and Russian militaries are currently holding talks on the Aleppo ceasefire.

"I hope that in the coming hours such an agreement will be announced," the minister said after his meeting in Moscow with the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan De Mistera. Endit