Syrian President Bashar al Assad has said the country's civil war has become a conflict between Russia and the West.

He commented as Russian President Valdimir Putin ratified a deal with the Syrian government allowing Moscow to use the Hmeimim air base in Syria - from where it has been launching airstrikes - indefinitely.

The move coincided with Syrian and Russian warplanes carrying out dozens of airstrikes on rebel-held districts of Aleppo on Friday, as world powers prepared for new talks on a ceasefire.

"Very intense air raids targeted several neighbourhoods from dawn until mid-morning," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Aleppo's children buried by the bombs

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He had no immediate word on casualties, but the pro-rebel Aleppo Media Centre claimed the airstrikes killed and wounded a number of people, with some buried under the debris.

Ibrahim Abu al-Leith, a spokesman for the White Helmets rescue force in Aleppo, said the air raids had battered the city and its outskirts overnight.

"There are still people stuck under the rubble in (the opposition-held district of) Tariq al-Bab and the rescuers are working to get them out," he said.

Another wave of airstrikes hits Aleppo

In an interview with Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, Mr Assad said: "What we've been seeing recently during the last few weeks, and maybe few months, is something like more than Cold War.

"I don't know what to call it, but it's not something that has existed recently, because I don't think that the West and especially the United States has stopped their Cold War, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union."

He also said a victory in Aleppo would be "a very important springboard" to pushing "terrorists" back to Turkey.

Mr Assad said Aleppo was effectively no longer Syria's industrial capital, but taking back the city would provide important political and strategic gains for his regime.

He added that Turkey's actions in Syria constituted an "invasion, against international law, against the morals, against the sovereignty of Syria".

Syrian government forces have encircled eastern Aleppo, besieging more than a quarter of a million people who they say are being used as human shields by "terrorists".

The White Helmet saving a city

Rescue workers said that Syria's military backed by Russian warplanes had killed more than 150 people in eastern Aleppo this week, in support of its offensive against the city.

The siege has caused an international outcry with a number of countries and groups accusing Syria and Russia of war crimes in connection with attacks on medical facilities and aid convoys.

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Syria's civil war, now in its sixth year, has killed 300,000 people and left millions homeless.

President Assad is backed by the Russian air force, Iran's Revolutionary Guards and an array of Shia militias from Arab neighbours.

Sunni rebels seeking to oust him are backed by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies.

Earlier this week, Russia announced plans to build a permanent naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus.