Fresh strikes hit Syria's Aleppo as supplies dwindle

Warplanes again pounded rebel-held areas of Syria's Aleppo on Monday as residents warned of increasing shortages of food and medicine.

An AFP correspondent in the battered city said a wave of strikes hit areas of the opposition-controlled east of the city from dawn, in particular the Al-Mashhad and Sayf al-Dawla districts, sparking large fires.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said "dozens of raids" had hit districts of east Aleppo after midnight on Sunday, with many wounded and at least two civilians killed.

It was the fourth day of intense air raids on the city since a defiant Syrian regime launched a new assault to retake all of Aleppo following the collapse of a short-lived ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States.

The Observatory said Monday that at least 128 people, nearly all civilians, had been killed in Syrian and Russian raids on eastern Aleppo since late Thursday.

Among the dead were 20 children and nine women, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

At least 36 civilians, including 11 children and five women, were killed in raids targeting rural areas of Aleppo province, he said.

A medical source in rebel-held Aleppo said hospitals were struggling to deal with a huge number of casualties as supplies dwindled.

"Hospitals that are still in service are under a lot of pressure due to the significant number of wounded in recent days, and the major shortage of blood," the source told AFP.

"Because of this, serious injuries are requiring immediate amputations," he said.

With Aleppo back under siege since regime forces again fully surrounded the city in early September, residents were having to deal with food shortages and skyrocketing prices as well as the increased violence.

The price of a portion of bread had risen to 500 Syrian pounds ($1) from 350 Syrian pounds last week, the AFP correspondent said, and food was becoming increasingly difficult to find.

Several charity kitchens that had distributed food in eastern districts were also no longer operating due to the danger of air strikes.

Aleppo, divided since mid-2012 between government control in the west and rebel control in the east, has seen some of its worst fighting in years over the last week, raising widespread international concern.

The UN Security Council met in an emergency session on Sunday to address the fighting, with Britain, France and the United States demanding Russia rein its Syrian ally.

Source: AFP