BEIRUT, Lebanon — A missile attack by government forces on the city of Aleppo in northern Syria killed at least 29 people, including 19 children, Syrian monitors said Saturday.

According to the monitors at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Friday night attack struck the Bab al-Neirab neighborhood in the city’s southwest, home to the headquarters of a number of rebel brigades, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which is linked to Al Qaeda. It was unclear how many of the dead were civilians, but the Syrian Observatory, which monitors the conflict from Britain through a network of contacts in Syria and which sympathizes with the opposition, said four women were among the dead.

The forces of President Bashar al-Assad have stepped up the use of such missiles, which often reduce city blocks to rubble, a strategy that analysts say suggests that the military lacks sufficient infantry to accomplish its goals.

In central Syria, government forces struck a powerful, if symbolic, blow against rebel forces by seizing the historic Khalid bin al-Waleed mosque in the city of Homs, which rebel forces had held since last year.