NGO: Battles in Syria's Aleppo kill scores on both sides
Reports say at least 150 people killed as Syrian army battles al Qaeda-linked rebels in fight over Syrian's second largest city.
Battles in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo have killed at least 70 pro-government fighters and more than 80 insurgents after the army started an offensive there, a monitoring group said on Wednesday.
The Syrian army, backed by allied militia, had captured areas north of Aleppo on Tuesday in what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said was an attempt to cut off insurgent supply lines to Syria's second city.
Aleppo is at the forefront of clashes between government forces and a range of insurgents, including Islamist brigades, al Qaeda's hardline Syria wing Nusra Front and Western-backed units.
The advance on Aleppo is the second major offensive by pro-government forces in a week. The army and allied combatants from Lebanon's Hezbollah group have also launched a large-scale assault in southern Syria against insurgents.
The army also took villages including Bashkuwi and Sifat, while fighting raged in Hardatain and Ratain, said the Observatory, which tracks the Syrian conflict using sources on the ground. It added that at least 18 insurgents were killed.
A UN mediator has been struggling to broker a ceasefire in Aleppo for months and government forces had long been expected to try to encircle it completely, aiming to drive away rebels.
"It is very important, because if they continue like this they will completely cut the supply lines for the future. The Syrian regime is moving forward there," the Observatory's founder Rami Abdulrahman said.
More than 210,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict, which will enter its fifth year next month, the Observatory has estimated, with clashes between numerous factions regularly flaring across the country.
