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1st LD: Syrian, Russian warplanes strike rebel-held areas in Aleppo

Xinhua, November 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Russian and Syrian warplanes struck several rebel-held positions in the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday, as Russia declares a broad offensive on Syria rebels in central and northern regions, activists said.

The military operation, which included heavy airstrikes, started after the rebels rejected repetitive warnings by the Syrian army to leave eastern Aleppo city before a wide-scale offensive launched by the military forces and backed by Russia.

The airstrikes targeted the Masaken Hanano, Haydariyeh, Qaterji and Qadi Askar areas in eastern Aleppo, according to opposition activists.

Activists also said ballistic missiles were fired on rebel-held areas, including the Tal Hadid area in the southern countryside of Aleppo as well as Jabal al-Hus.

The Syrian national TV, meanwhile, said that airstrikes targeted eastern Aleppo, spelling no further details.

Syrian and Russia airstrikes were halted on Oct. 18 to give a pause for the rebels who want to leave eastern Aleppo. However, the rebels didn't leave amid official Syrian claims that the rebels prevented the civilians from leaving.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor group said tension prevails eastern Aleppo, as civilians attacked warehouses of humanitarian aid in that part of the city.

This comes as the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said Tuesday that jets from the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier deployed in the eastern Mediterranean had launched their first strikes on Syria in the northwestern province of Idlib and the central city of Homs.

"Today at 10:30 and 11 am (0730 and 0800 GMT), we started a major operation to conduct mass fire damage on the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front's positions in the Idlib and Homs provinces," Shoigu was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.

"For the first time in our naval history, the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov started taking part in combat," he added.

Shoigu said that the Russian Admiral Grigorovich frigate targeted terrorists in Syria with Kalibr cruise missile strikes.

Idlib has emerged as the main stronghold for the rebels, as the entire province is under their control, except two Shiite towns that are still loyal to the Syrian government. Endit