Syrian troops shelled several districts in Aleppo and clashed with rebels on Tuesday, as Damascus ally Iran proposed a simultaneous halt to the violence and a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Clashes erupted in Bustan al-Qasr in the southwest and in nearby Izaa as both districts were shelled, residents in Syria’s second city said, also reporting fighting further south in Sukari.
Overnight, shelling killed two civilians in the rebel-held Sakhur neighbourhood in the northeast, while nearby Hanano was also bombed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syrian forces said they had secured the flashpoint Midan district on Monday after a week of fighting, although an AFP correspondent said some parts were still unsafe for residents to return.
Pro-regime newspaper Al-Watan said the army had “cleansed” Midan, which “opens the door” to nearby neighbourhoods, including Bustan al-Basha, Suleiman al-Halabi and Sakhur.
But the two-month-old battle for Aleppo was very fluid, with both sides claiming gains in a guerrilla war, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Outside Aleppo, two civilians were killed in shelling on the town of Al-Bab and the town of Safira was also reportedly bombed, according to the watchdog.
In Damascus, at least four soldiers and one rebel were killed, as the army tried to push into the southern districts of Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Qadam and Assali, and three civilians were killed by shelling, the Observatory said.
Troops also bombed areas in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, where 10 civilians were killed, the northwestern province of Idlib and the central province of Homs, where a rebel was killed in fighting, the monitor added.
As the killing continues, the head of a UN commission investigating rights abuses in Syria said they had soared dramatically in recent weeks and that the UN Security Council should take “appropriate action” against war criminals.
“Gross violations of human rights have grown in number, in pace and in scale,” Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said on Monday, adding that Assad’s regime and rebels, to a lesser extent, had committed war crimes. Robert Serry, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, echoed similar views as he briefed the Security Council, saying: “Indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas by government forces with heavy weapons, tanks and air assets has increased.”
Syria fighting rages as Iran calls for halt to violence
