Dozens of people have been killed in airstrikes by Syrian and Russian warplanes on rebel-held areas in and around the city of Aleppo.

At least 45 civilians were killed in Aleppo and to the west of the city, and another 22 died in neighbouring Idlib province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group.

It said the ongoing attacks were targeting areas held by the Army of Conquest, an alliance of rebel, Islamist and jihadist forces that has mounted a major offensive to seize Aleppo.

"The intensification of the strikes in Idlib is due to the fact that this province is the main source of fighters for the Army of Conquest," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the group.

Aleppo Fighting Continues Despite Ceasefire

A correspondent for the AFP news agency, who is in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, said the strikes were especially intense around the southern district of Ramussa.


Rebel fighters seized control there earlier this month in what was seen as a major setback for forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad.

Nine other civilians were killed on Saturday in rebel shelling of western Aleppo, which is controlled by the Syrian government, the Observatory said.

Fighting for control of Aleppo, Syria's former economic hub and a focal point of the country's five-year civil war, has intensified since Russian troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.

Image: A man rebuilding a wall of a building damaged by the fighting in Aleppo

Rebel forces took control of Ramussa on 6 August, after a siege lasting nearly three weeks.

If the rebels could take all of Aleppo, it would be their biggest victory of the conflict.

Increased fighting in and around the city has raised deep concerns for around 1.5 million civilians still in Aleppo, including an estimated 250,000 in rebel-controlled areas.

The United Nations has called for regular 48-hour pauses in the fighting to allow aid into the city, which has suffered from severe shortages of food, water and medical supplies.

Russia says its planes have also been bombing IS held areas

Russia began launching airstrikes last September in support of President Assad, which has helped the regime to consolidate its hold on loyal areas and regain some lost territory.

The Russian defence ministry said that six of its long-range bombers had struck around Deir Ez-Zor, a stronghold of Islamic State in Syria.

IS controls large parts of Deir Ez-Zor city and most of the surrounding oil-rich province in the east of the country.

Sky's Diplomatic Editor Explains How Much Control Assad Still Has Over Aleppo

Russia claimed it had wiped out two command posts, six arms depots, IS vehicles and "a large number of fighters".

IS took control of large areas of Syria and Iraq in mid-2014, with the group emerging from the chaos created by the Syrian conflict.

A US-led coalition is also battling IS in Syria and Iraq, with airstrikes and backing for the Syrian Democratic Forces, an Arab-Kurdish militia alliance, which on Friday took full control of the strategic city of Manbij after an IS retreat.