Russian jets pound Aleppo as US clings to diplomacy
Russian war planes struck rebel held areas north of Aleppo on Saturday as the army shelled the besieged old quarter in a major offensive, rebels and a monitoring group said.
Russia was reported on Friday to be sending more warplanes to Syria to ramp up its air campaign as the United States said it had not yet given up on finding a diplomatic resolution.
The latest strikes come 10 days into a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive to capture rebel-held eastern Aleppo and crush the last urban stronghold of a revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that began in 2011. Saturday's air strikes focused on major supply lines into rebel-held areas—the Castello Road and Malah district —while fighting raged in the Suleiman al Halabi neighbourhood, the front line to the north of Aleppo's Old City.
