At least 8 die in renewed rocket attack in Aleppo

At least eight people were killed on Tuesday in a renewed rocket attack by rebels on government-controlled areas in Aleppo, local Sama TV said.

The attack targeted several residential neighborhoods in the government-controlled western part of Aleppo.

Aleppo, Syria's second largest city and once its economic capital, has recently witnessed intensified violence.

A day earlier, seven people were killed in a similar rocket attack in Aleppo.

On Sunday, the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and like-minded groups unleashed a major offensive on government positions west of Aleppo, the third to take place in 10 days.

The pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said the army foiled that attack and killed 30 of the assailants.

The rebels intensified their assaults by shelling on government-controlled parts of the city, trying to advance from eastern Aleppo to the western part of the city.

The Syrian army said it had repelled the attacks, but the rebel shelling continued, prompting government airstrikes on rebel-held areas.

The intensified violence reflects the gap between the government and the rebels, as well as the broader international differences between the countries that support different parties to the conflict.

The Syrian government side says that a truce backed by both the U.S. and Russia, which went into effect last February, has been violated by the attacking rebels in Aleppo.

Washington and Moscow agreed on Friday on a "regime of silence" to take place near the capital Damascus and the northwestern province of Latakia to shore up the falling truce.

Aleppo, however, was not included, and the civilians were the ones paying the price.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based watchdog group, over 244 civilians, including 43 children and 27 women, were killed by rebel shelling on government areas and government airstrikes on rebel-held areas over the past 10 days.

Source: XINHUA