The Syrian army’s use of surface-to-surface missiles on Aleppo is part of a bid to advance on the northern city, swathes of which have fallen into rebel hands since mid-last year, a watchdog said Saturday.
“The army has been trying for weeks to come closer to Aleppo via its eastern entrance, in order to assault it. Elite troops are being sent... but so far the army has been unsuccessful,” said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.
“The army’s use of surface-to-surface missiles on Aleppo is part of that attempted advance,” Abdel Rahman said.
On Friday, at least 29 people, among them children, were killed in three surface-to-surface missile strikes on eastern Aleppo, the Observatory said.
The missiles, which targeted the district of Ard al-Hamra area of Tariq al-Bab, also injured about 150 other people, said the Britain-based Observatory.
Activists said the missiles were launched from Base 155 near Damascus, though their reports could not be verified.
Just four days earlier, 33 people including 15 children were killed in a missile attack on the nearby district of Jabal Badro, said the Observatory.