ALEPPO, Syria — Rebel shelling killed two Russian nurses and eight civilians Monday in Aleppo, and a Russian fighter jet crashed as it was returning to an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean after a sortie over Syria, but the pilot ejected safely, Moscow officials said.

The shelling that targeted government-controlled western Aleppo was one of the most intense in recent days. It coincided with a crushing air and ground assault that has seen forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad recapture more than half of opposition-held eastern Aleppo.

Russia and militias allied with Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah have been staunch supporters of Assad in his country's bitter civil war, now in its sixth year.

The shelling initially killed one female nurse and wounded two Russian medics working in a field hospital, a Russian officer told reporters in the northern city. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Moscow had sent hospital equipment to the government-controlled Furqan neighborhood on Sunday.

Another nurse who was wounded in the shelling later died, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"The Russian and Syrian doctors tried their best to save her," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in an emailed statement. Another Russian, a pediatrician, remains in critical condition.

He urged international organizations such as the Red Cross to condemn the attack on the health workers "who were doing their medical duty to help the civilians of Aleppo."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said talks would be held with the United States this week in Geneva on a rebel withdrawal from eastern Aleppo, Russian news agencies reported. The Russians have tried before to coax rebels into leaving the territory, setting up corridors out of the district, but the fighters have refused because they want to retain their control over parts of the city. Some fear the Russians and their Syrian allies would not ensure their safety.

Monday's fighting was the worst in days. Syrian government artillery, tanks and warplanes pounded rebel-held parts of the city for hours. The airstrikes were so intense that buildings on the western side of the city shook. Opposition activists and rescue workers said four people were killed in a barrel bomb attack on a rebel-held district, and three more were trapped in the rubble.

Insurgents also struck back in the government-held western parts of the city with dozens of mortar shells. At least eight civilians were killed in different neighborhoods, according to state news agency SANA. Among the dead were two children and four women, said the opposition Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Thick smoke billowed from behind Aleppo's famous citadel where Syrian forces were advancing from the west and east to try to cut rebel-held districts in half.

On the city's southern edge, heavy machine gun fire could be heard.

An Associated Press team in government-controlled Aleppo said the attack on the Russian field hospital left the large tent charred and beds overturned. The shelling struck shortly before the inauguration of makeshift clinic. The AP crew was accompanied by representatives of the Syrian army.

Konashenkov said an unspecified number of residents at the field hospital were wounded, and he accused the U.S., Britain and France of telling the rebels the location of the hospital.

"The blood of our soldiers is on the hands of those who ordered this murder — those who created, nurtured and armed these beasts in human form and named them the 'opposition,'" he said.

Asked about the accusation, the British Defense Ministry declined to comment.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said the Su-33 fighter jet crashed in the Mediterranean as it returned to the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov after a sortie over Syria. "Because of the failure of the arrester system's cable, the Su-33 fighter rolled off the deck," the ministry said.

The pilot ejected successfully and was unharmed, the ministry said, adding that Russian military operations over Syria would not be affected by the incident.

This is the second loss of an aircraft from the Admiral Kuznetsov since it arrived off Syria last month. A MiG-29 crashed into the sea Nov. 15 while trying to land on the carrier.

In a ground offensive that began last week, Syrian government forces seized large parts of the Aleppo enclave that have been under rebel control since 2012. Monday's fighting was most intense near the dividing line between eastern and western Aleppo as government and allied troops pushed their way from the eastern flank, reaching less than 1 kilometer (half a mile) from the citadel in the center of the city.

Rebel fighters clashed with advancing troops and also lobbed mortars and shells into the government-controlled part of Aleppo to the west.

The opposition-run Thiqa News agency and the Syrian Civil Defense said four civilians were killed in the rebel-held Zabadiyeh district when barrel bombs were dropped there.

In nearby rebel-controlled Idlib province, Syrian opposition activists said Russian and Syrian aircraft stepped up assaults, a day after air raids killed more than 60 people.

The activist-run Local Coordination Committees said airstrikes on Monday hit the towns of Binnish, Maarat Nasaan and Saraqib, as well as the provincial capital, Idlib. The network said three children were killed, blaming the attacks on Russian aircraft.

Rebels also sent rockets into the predominantly Shiite towns of Foua and Kfarya, in Idlib province. Online video posted by activists showed clouds of smoke rising and wreckage sustained by the blasts.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 288 civilians have been killed in the province since Oct. 20, when Syrian government and Russian aircraft intensified airstrikes. The Syrian Civil Defense in Idlib said 65 civilians were killed in Sunday's airstrikes across the province, including attacks on two rural marketplaces that killed dozens. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Dr Abu Rajan shows cameras around the bombed M10 hospital in rebel-held Aleppo

Russian and Syrian air raids on the rebel-held eastern half of the city of Aleppo have forced the closure of the largest hospital in the area and killed two people, a medical charity says.

The Syrian American Medical Society, which supports the hospital, said it had been struck by barrel bombs.

There are also reports of Russian-backed Syrian government forces hitting Aleppo's historic Old City.

Clashes between government troops and rebels are occurring in several areas.

Russian and Syrian air forces resumed attacks on the rebel-held east of the city after a partial truce lapsed on 19 September. Government forces have also launched a ground offensive against the rebels.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Hospitals in the east of Aleppo have been razed to the ground

Image caption Two people people were killed and about 10 reported injured at the hospital

The mounting civilian death toll has sparked international protests. The US says Russia is driving moderate rebels into the arms of jihadists.

Once Syria's commercial and industrial hub, Aleppo has been divided roughly in two since 2012.

The UN says at least 400 civilians, including many children, have been killed in the city this week as a result of Russian and Syrian government attacks.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Aleppo: Key battleground in Syria's civil war

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Drone footage shows children playing football among Aleppo's ruins

On Saturday, air raids hit Aleppo's main trauma M10 hospital for the third time in a matter of days, medical workers say.

"The hospital is now out of service completely," radiologist Mohammad Abu Rajab was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"There's destruction to walls, infrastructure, equipment and generators. There are no more guards or staff left. It's complete darkness."

Hospital manager Dr Abu Rajan told local media that about 10 people at the hospital had been injured after it was hit by barrel bombs - improvised devices dropped from helicopters - cluster munitions, and a chlorine bomb.

Two patients were killed, while others have now been transferred to alternative facilities, the Syrian American Medical Society said.

A spokesman for US President Barack Obama condemned the bombing, which he said showed "total disregard" for medical professionals and patients.

"Reports of yet another hospital being destroyed further demonstrates the total disregard for the lives of medical professionals and their patients who need critical care because of the Assad regime and Russia's relentless campaign against the Syrian people."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also condemned the bombing, saying the shelling of healthcare structures and personnel constituted war crimes - and the perpetrators would have to be held to account.

'Shelling heavily'

The Syrian army says it is gaining ground but the rebels deny this.

"They are shelling the Old City heavily after another failed attempt to gain ground," Abu Hamam, from the Failaq al-Sham group, was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

"They have lost several fighters and we are steadfast."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, also reported government barrel bomb and jet attacks on the Ghouta area outside Damascus on Saturday.

In another development, it said government forces were battling fighters from the Islamic State group in Homs region.

War of words

Washington and Moscow have continued to spar over Syria, with the US dismissing Russian accusations that it was protecting a jihadist group in its bid to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the US had broken its promise to separate the powerful Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly known as al-Nusra Front) and other extremist groups from more moderate rebels.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Russia's claim is "absurd", says state department spokesman Mark Toner

State department spokesman Mark Toner said the Russian allegations were "absurd".

He told reporters the US had not targeted al-Nusra for months because they had become "intermingled" with other groups and civilians.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Sergei Lavrov: "We believe the plan was to spare Nusra"

At least 250,000 people have been killed in the conflict since it began in March 2011 with the Observatory estimating the true number to be about 430,000.

More than 4.8 million people have fled abroad, and an estimated 6.5 million others have been displaced within the country, the UN says. </s> However, activists working inside the city said up to five other hospitals in eastern neighborhoods are still functioning.

"For the first time, eastern Aleppo is out of hospitals operating at full capacity," Dr Mazen Kewara, Director of the SAMS Turkey Office, told CNN. "There are remaining medical facilities but they are not operating at full capacity," he said.

One of those hit was a children's hospital, forcing staff to evacuate babies to safety.

The Aleppo Media Center activist group and medical crews reported that 46 people were killed and 75 injured Friday in airstrikes and shelling in the city and surrounding countryside, with the activists describing the fighting as some of the bloodiest yet. An AMC activist told CNN on Saturday that there are up to five hospitals now operating in Aleppo. The AMC said there were minor injuries to patients and staff at the M1 surgical hospital after artillery shelling and airstrikes caused major fires on Friday. One of the few doctors left in Aleppo speaks to CNN One of the few doctors left in Aleppo speaks to CNN At the second hospital the group visited, the al-Hakim children's hospital, the AMC told CNN that the medical crew and children were evacuated with no injuries and that all babies survived the attacks. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told CNN on Saturday that some of the hospitals struck in airstrikes in recent days were out of service for a time but are now operating to some extent in the besieged parts of Aleppo. The hospitals are desperately needed by an estimated 250,000 people trapped under bombardment in the eastern side of the city with dwindling reserves of food, fuel and medical supplies. A UK-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Friday that more than 1,000 people have died in airstrikes and shelling across Aleppo and surrounding areas since a short-lived US and Russian-brokered ceasefire broke down on September 19. Syria's grinding five-year conflict has devastated the city, divided between government-controlled areas in the west and rebel positions in the east. Moscow has sought to distance itself from the latest blitz, with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov saying Wednesday that the Russian air force had not carried out the Aleppo strikes, according to state-run news agency Tass. </s> Damascus, Syria (CNN) The United States is making preparations to suspend bilateral talks with Russia on Syria -- unless Moscow takes immediate steps to end the assault on Aleppo and restore a ceasefire, the US State Department said Wednesday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a telephone call to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that the United States and its partners held Russia responsible for a drastic escalation in attacks that have put civilians at great risk.

Two hospitals in eastern Aleppo have been bombed "out of service," staff and activists said, as airstrikes pounded rebel-held parts of the northern Syrian city on Wednesday.

Hospital staff said the city's M2 and M10 hospitals were hit early Wednesday, putting intensive care units out of use.

Dr. Mounir Hakimi of the International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations and UK-based charity Syrian Relief told CNN that an airstrike hit the M10 hospital and shelling the M2.

"Anyone offering help to civilians now is being targeted," he said. "It's the message that any humanitarian response is not welcome."

At least six people were killed Wednesday morning when an airstrike struck a bakery as people lined up to buy bread, according to activists. They said the death toll was expected to rise.

Ground battles also raged Wednesday in Aleppo between the Syrian army and rebels.

The Syrian army said it took control of the central Farafra neighborhood in Aleppo's old city Tuesday, bringing it closer to the rebel-held eastern areas.

However, rebels and activists inside the besieged city told CNN there had been no ground assault in those areas.

There are conflicting reports of how many people were killed Tuesday in airstrikes on eastern Aleppo.

The rebel-held Aleppo Health Directorate reported 18 deaths, including six children. The activist group Aleppo Media Center said more than 30 people were killed, but it was unclear if some of those deaths were a result of earlier strikes or bodies pulled out of the rubble.

The UN children's agency, UNICEF, said Wednesday that at least 96 children had been killed and 223 injured in eastern Aleppo since Friday.

Hundreds of airstrikes have rocked the beleaguered city, home to more than 250,000 people, since the Syrian government, backed by Russia, announced a renewed, "comprehensive" offensive on Thursday.

The strikes on two of Aleppo's remaining hospitals likely will only compound the misery of civilians trapped there.

Hakimi, a UK-based orthopedic surgeon, told CNN that due to damage to the electricity and oxygen generators and the intensive care unit at M10, "the hospital as we speak is out of service. It's one of the main hospitals in Aleppo, so it's a big blow."

There were no casualties in the strike on M10, Hakimi said, but three patients were killed and two members of staff were injured at the M2 hospital. Five artillery shells struck that facility, he said, citing information from medical and humanitarian workers on the ground.

"The problem now is that there's no intensive care units in either hospital," Hakimi said. "They were already running at double capacity because during the weekend there was the most intensive airstrikes ever."

The remaining hospitals are already running at full capacity, he said. There may be more instances in which doctors perform surgery on patients as they lie on the ground due to lack of space, he said.

"We are so close to humanitarian catastrophe in Aleppo," Hakimi said.

The Syria Civil Defense group, a volunteer emergency medical service also known as the White Helmets, was also hit in Aleppo on the weekend, he said.

UNICEF said the 30 doctors who remain in Aleppo face an increasing number of trauma cases with hardly any medical equipment or medicine to treat the injured.

The agency cited a doctor on the ground as saying that children with low chances of survival are often left to die because of a lack of capacity or supplies.

"The children of Aleppo are trapped in a living nightmare," said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Justin Forsyth. "There are no words left to describe the suffering they are experiencing."

On Wednesday, Pope Francis again appealed for peace in Syria and warned that those responsible for the bombing campaign in Aleppo will be "accountable to God" for their actions, according to Vatican Radio.

"In expressing my deep sorrow and lively concern for what is happening in that already battered city -- where children, the elderly, the sick, young and old, all are dying -- I renew my appeal to everyone to commit themselves with all their strength to the protection of civilians as an imperative and urgent obligation," Francis said, speaking at his general audience in Rome.

More than 200 airstrikes hit Aleppo over the weekend, killing more than 100 people and injuring hundreds more, according to Ammar al-Selmo of the Syria Civil Defense group. </s> (CNN) Syrian forces pounded rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Sunday, killing at least 85 people and wounding more than 300 others, an activist group reported. The bombardment destroyed residential centers, overwhelmed hospitals and angered diplomats meeting at the United Nations.

"Everyone in Aleppo is depressed," an activist on the ground told CNN.

Can Russia and US reach common ground on Syria?

Can Russia and US reach common ground on Syria? 01:53

Can Russia and US reach common ground on Syria?

"They don't know what they have done to become targets for warplanes. Fear is clear in the eyes of anyone you see walking the streets of Aleppo. Yesterday I saw a woman walking on the street and crying , no clear reason, just crying."

Hundreds of airstrikes have pummeled the city, home to more than 250,000 people, since the Syrian government, backed by Russia, announced a renewed, "comprehensive" offensive Thursday following the collapse of a short-lived ceasefire.

Sunday's death toll marked an increase in casualties, according to the Aleppo Media Center (AMC), an opposition-affiliated group of activists that works to document the conflict.

Activists say rescue operations are difficult in Aleppo because of the constant presence of jets in the sky, and that hospitals are facing severe shortages of medicine, blood and supplies.

The activist who recounted Aleppo residents' fears said that in one hospital, where a fellow activist was being treated, 40 people lay strewn on the floor because there were no beds.

Wounded people are dying because health services are overstretched and providers don't have the ability or capacity to treat them, the activist said. Due to a lack of supplies, hospitals are performing amputations to keep some people alive.

Only 20 doctors remain in eastern Aleppo, the activist added.

The renewed attacks, which include barrel bombs, come as the U.N. Security Council held a crisis meeting Sunday to discuss the Syrian government's offensive on Aleppo. At the meeting, diplomats exchanged fiery words,

The US Ambassador to the United Nations accused Russia of engaging in barbarism in Syria.

"What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counterterrorism, it is barbarism," Samantha Power told the Security Council.

"Instead of pursuing peace, Russia and Assad make war. Instead of helping get life-saving aid to civilians, Russia and Assad are bombing the humanitarian convoys, hospitals and first responders who are trying desperately to keep people alive," Power said.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said the US-led coalition's support for rebels was hampering humanitarian efforts.

"The humanitarian situation in Aleppo could have been normalized in August but that was not done, it was not allowed because the armed groups prevented that," he said.

The United States, Britain and France requested the session in the wake of the regime's military push to retake rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo.

Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, told the Security Council that his government plans to retake all of the territory lost to rebels, including the city of Aleppo.

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Sunday that Russia is guilty of protracting the Syrian war and making it "far more hideous."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also said that the Syrian government's use of airstrikes, incendiary weapons and bunker-buster bombs in densely populated areas may amount to war crimes.

Syrian government troops and supporting militia on Saturday made their first major ground advance of the assault on Aleppo, seizing control of the Handarat Palestinian refugee camp on the city's northeastern outskirts, while warplanes bombarded the east, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

Rebels then launched a counter offensive to try to retake the area, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria's military declared the ceasefire over on Monday, after a strike by US-led coalition warplanes on a Syrian army post killed dozens of troops.

The US military did not dispute the strike, but characterized it as "unintentional" and relayed its "regret" to Syria through Russia, saying the intended target had been ISIS.

Shortly after the ceasefire ended, a UN-Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy was hit in an airstrike, killing about 20 people. US officials blamed Russia, while Moscow denied that Russian or Syrian warplanes were responsible. </s> (CNN) More than 1,000 people have died in airstrikes and shelling in the Syrian city of Aleppo since a short-lived ceasefire broke down 60 days ago, according to a UK-based monitoring group.

The figure includes deaths in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, in government-controlled western Aleppo and in the surrounding countryside, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday.

The group's tally comes as Russian-backed Syrian government forces once again pummel eastern Aleppo.

The weeklong ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia collapsed in the early hours of September 19 , according to the observatory.

Of the 1,086 dead the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented across the city since then, 231 were children and 98 were women.

The highest number of deaths occurred in eastern Aleppo neighborhoods, where airstrikes by Russian and regime planes killed 509 people, the monitoring group said. Artillery shelling was responsible for another 47 deaths.

Russian and government airstrikes killed 300 people, including 70 children and 34 women, in Aleppo's countryside, the group said.

Shelling by rebel factions killed another 225 people, including 59 children and 32 women, in regime-held western neighborhoods, it said.

More than 4,000 people were injured on both sides of the war-torn northern city over the same period, the group said.

The Aleppo Media Center activist group and medical crews reported that 46 people were killed and 75 injured Friday in airstrikes and shelling in the city and surrounding countryside, with the activists describing the fighting as one of the bloodiest days yet.

Syrian jets dropped cluster bombs on the eastern Aleppo neighborhoods of al-Sukari and al-Fardous, the Aleppo Media Center said. It also reported artillery shelling there and in two other neighborhoods.

An activist in Binnish, in Syria's northeastern Idlib province, said Russian and Syrian warplanes had bombarded half a dozen towns in Idlib since midnight.

Syria's state-run news agency SANA said "terrorist rocket attacks" Friday had killed five people and injured 17 in residential areas of western Aleppo.

Syria's grinding five-year conflict has devastated the city, divided between government-controlled areas in the west and rebel positions in the east.

The regime's siege of rebel-held neighborhoods has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe as food, water and medical supplies run low.

Rebels took control of eastern Aleppo in 2014, and government forces have besieged the area, battering it from above with the help of Russian air power. The government says the rebels are terrorists who must be driven out.

Moscow has sought to distance itself from the latest blitz, with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov saying Wednesday that the Russian air force had not carried out the Aleppo strikes, according to state-run news agency Tass. </s> All hospitals in Syria’s besieged rebel-held eastern Aleppo are out of service after days of heavy air strikes, its health directorate and the World Health Organization (WHO) said, though a war monitor said some were still functioning.

White House national security adviser Susan Rice said the United States condemned “in the strongest terms” the latest air strikes against hospitals and urged Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to take steps to halt the violence.

Intense air strikes have battered the eastern part of the city since Tuesday, when the Syrian army and its allies resumed operations after a pause lasting weeks. They launched ground attacks against insurgent positions on Friday.

The war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said 48 people, including at least five children, had been killed in eastern Aleppo on Saturday by dozens of air strikes and barrel bombs and dozens of artillery rounds.

That brings the number of people killed by the increased bombardment of Aleppo and the surrounding countryside over the past five days to about 180, including 97 in the city’s besieged eastern sector, the observatory added.

Warplanes, artillery and helicopters continued bombarding eastern Aleppo on Saturday, hitting many of its densely populated residential districts, the Observatory said. There were intense clashes in the Bustan al-Basha district, it added.

“This destruction of infrastructure essential to life leaves the besieged, resolute people, including all children and elderly men and women, without any health facilities offering life-saving treatment ... leaving them to die,” said Aleppo’s health directorate in a statement sent to Reuters late on Friday by an opposition official.

Elizabeth Hoff, the WHO representative in Syria, said on Saturday that a U.N.-led group of aid agencies based over the border in Turkey “confirmed today that all hospitals in eastern Aleppo are out of service”.

The monitoring group said some hospitals were still operating in besieged parts of Aleppo but said many residents were frightened to use them because of the heavy shelling.

Medical sources, residents and rebels in eastern Aleppo say hospitals have been damaged by air strikes and helicopter barrel bombs in recent days, including direct hits on the buildings.

“The United States again joins our partners ... in demanding the immediate cessation of these bombardments and calling on Russia to immediately deescalate violence and facilitate humanitarian aid and access for the Syrian people,” Rice said in a statement.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tweeted that reports of air strikes hitting civilians and hospitals in east Aleppo were “sickening” and called for a return to diplomacy.

However, with the United States awaiting the inauguration in late January of President-elect Donald Trump, who has been critical of Washington’s Syria policy without laying out detailed plans himself, diplomatic efforts appear stalled.

Staffan De Mistura, the special envoy of the U.N. secretary general, is likely to meet Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moalem in Damascus on Sunday after recent talks in Turkey and Iran, another diplomat said.

“He will push on Aleppo, perhaps on a ceasefire, but on the political file there won’t be anything until (U.N. Secretary– General Ban Ki-moon’s successor Antonio) Guterres is in office, the diplomat said.

Both Russia and Assad’s government have denied deliberately targeting hospitals and other civilian infrastructure during the war, which began in 2011 and was joined by Russia’s air force in September 2015.

Russia unilaterally called a ceasefire in late October and said on Saturday it was now only striking against groups that are not also observing it. Rebel groups in Aleppo have all said they do not recognize the Russian ceasefire.

The charity Doctors Without Borders said in a message there had been more than 30 hits on hospitals in eastern Aleppo since early July. “Doctors are few and medical supplies are depleted, with no possibility of sending more supplies in,” it said.

Health and rescue workers have previously been able to bring damaged hospitals back into operation but a lack of supplies is making that harder.

The Syrian war pits Assad and his allies Russia, Iran and Shi’ite militias against Sunni rebels including groups supported by the United States, Turkey and the Gulf monarchies and also jihadist groups.

Aleppo, for years split between a rebel-held east and government-held western sector, has become the fiercest front.

An army offensive backed by a major aerial bombardment from late September to late October killed hundreds, according to the United Nations, and tightened the siege, leaving eastern Aleppo with little food, medicine or fuel.

A rebel counter-attack early this month involved shelling that killed dozens of civilians, the U.N. said, but it quickly petered out and the army and its allies, including Hezbollah and Iraqi militias, reversed all insurgent gains in about two weeks.

Syrian state television said on Tuesday the air force had targeted “terrorist strongholds and supply depots” in Aleppo. Russia has said its air force is only conducting air strikes in other parts of Syria. The Damascus government describes all the rebels fighting it as terrorists. </s> AMMAN (Reuters) - Russian warplanes and their Syrian government allies battered rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo on Saturday, and rebels and aid workers accused them of destroying one of the city’s main hospitals and killing at least two patients.

M10, the city’s main trauma hospital, in eastern Aleppo, was struck as the United States and its allies urged Russia, which is trying to crush resistance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to halt the bombing and reach a diplomatic resolution.

Saturday’s air strikes focused on major supply lines into rebel-held areas of Aleppo - the Castello Road and Malah district and around the Handarat camp.

Fighting also raged in the city in the Suleiman al Halabi neighborhood, the front line to the north of Aleppo’s Old City and in the residential Bustan al Basha quarter.

Rebels and rescuers said at least seven missiles were dropped on the hospital, more commonly known as Sakhour, by both Russian jets and Syrian helicopters.

An American relief organization said two patients were killed and 13 injured in the attack, which was the second on the hospital in less than a week.

“The hospital is now out of service completely. There’s destruction to walls, infrastructure, equipment and generators. There are no more guards or staff left. It’s complete darkness,” said Mohammad Abu Rajab, a radiologist in the hospital.

Footage of the bombed hospital on social media showed extensive damage.

The attack drew immediate condemnation from France and Germany. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the shelling of healthcare structures and personnel in Aleppo amounted to war crimes, adding: “Their perpetrators will be held to account.”

“The bombing of Aleppo needs to finally stop! Whoever wants to fight terrorists does not attack hospitals!” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier tweeted.

The U.S envoy to the United Nations last week called Russia’s actions in Syria “barbarism,” not counter-terrorism.

An official for U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration condemned the bombing, citing “total disregard” for medical professionals and those needing their help.

“Reports of yet another hospital being destroyed further demonstrates the total disregard for the lives of medical professionals and their patients who need critical care because of the Assad regime and Russia’s relentless campaign against the Syrian people.”

Rebels said Moscow and the Syrian army have for months been targeting power plants, hospitals and bakeries to force into surrender the nearly 250,000 believed trapped in the city.

Hundreds of people have been killed in indiscriminate bombing of residential areas and many hundreds more wounded, with little access to treatment in hospitals that lack basic supplies.

The army, aided by hundreds of Iranian-backed militias who have arrived in Aleppo, have backed up the air campaign with a ground offensive on several frontlines.

“The regime is spearheading an attack on all fronts and is trying to open more than one major front and of course there are a lot of amassing of troops mostly based in Handarat,” Abu Haidar, a commander in Fastaqim, one of the rebel groups inside Aleppo, said via internet messaging.

In a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was ready to consider more ways to normalize the situation in Aleppo, the ministry said.

A man walks on the rubble of damaged buildings after an airstrike on the rebel held al-Qaterji neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

But Lavrov criticized Washington’s failure to separate moderate rebel groups from those the Russians call terrorists, which had allowed forces led by the group formerly known as the Nusra front to violate the U.S.-Russian truce agreed on Sept. 9.

The United States made clear it would not, at least for now, carry through a threat made on Wednesday to halt the diplomacy if Russia did not take immediate steps to end the violence.

Moscow and Assad spurned the ceasefire to launch the new offensive, potentially the biggest and most decisive battle of the civil war, which is now in its sixth year.

BACK AND FORTH

An army source quoted in state media said its forces had made advances, which was denied by rebels.

A news commentary by the state-run Ikhbariyah said “high level coordination from the air and ground by Syrian and Russian warplanes” had allowed the two allies to “successful hit locations where terrorist groups had dug in.”

But rebels said Syrian troops backed by fresh reinforcements from Iranian-backed militias were struggling to make any gains in a ground offensive in a key frontline in the old city.

“They are shelling the old city heavily after another failed attempt to gain ground. They have lost several fighters and we are steadfast,” said Abu Hamam, a rebel from the Failaq al-Sham group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group that monitors the war, reported heavy bombardment by government forces and “back and forth” fighting in the Suleiman al-Halabi neighborhood.

Rebels led by the main Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham said on Saturday they had regained several areas in the Bustan al-Pasha district seized a day before, a strategic point that would allow the army to press into the heart of the rebel held eastern sector.

Slideshow (6 Images)

Russia joined the war exactly a year ago, tipping the balance of power in favor of Assad, who is also supported by Iranian ground forces and Shi’ite militia from Lebanon and Iraq.

The army said it would press its advantage after retaking last Thursday the strategic Handarat camp north of Aleppo that had already changed hands once since the start of the attack. </s> Beirut (AP) — At least 26 civilians were killed in fresh government airstrikes on the contested city of Aleppo, Syrian activists said Sunday, as the United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting on the spiraling violence in Syria.

At the start of that meeting the U.N.’s top envoy to Syria accused the government of unleashing “unprecedented military violence” against civilians in Aleppo.

Staffan de Mistura said Syria’s declaration of a military offensive to retake rebel-held eastern Aleppo has led to one of the worst weeks of the 5 1/2-year war with dozens of airstrikes against residential areas and buildings causing scores of civilian deaths.

He said the offensive targeting civilians with sophisticated weapons including incendiary devices may amount to war crimes.

Medical workers and local officials reported airstrikes on neighborhoods throughout Aleppo’s rebel-held eastern districts as an announced government offensive entered its fourth day.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 26 civilians had been killed by 7:30 p.m. and said it expects the toll to rise.

Ibrahim Alhaj of the Syrian Civil Defense search and rescue outfit said hospitals and rescuers have documented the deaths of 43 people so far.

Hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties and medical workers are expecting many of the wounded to die from a lack of treatment, according to Mohammad Zein Khandaqani, a member of the Medical Council, which oversees medical affairs in the city’s opposition quarters.

“I’ve never seen so many people dying in once place,” he said from a hospital in the city. “It’s terrifying today. In less than one hour the Russian planes have killed more than 50 people and injured more than 200.”

The Observatory, which relies on a network of contacts inside Syria, said earlier in the day that 213 civilians have been killed by airstrikes and shelling on opposition areas in and around Aleppo since a U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire collapsed Monday evening.

De Mistura, at the Security Council meeting, warned that if the Syrian government is intent on taking Aleppo, it is going to be “a grinding” a street-by-street fight where all the infrastructure in the city will be destroyed, but it won’t lead to victory.

“A so-called military solution is impossible, including in Aleppo,” he stressed.

He urged the United States and Russia to go “that extra mile” and save the Sept. 9 cessation of hostilities agreement “at the 11th hour.”

On the sidelines of the meeting, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council to force a halt to the hostilities in Aleppo, and he condemned Russia and the Syrian government’s alleged use of bunker busting bombs, which are designed to penetrate underground facilities.

“Let us remember: The fighting has forced hospitals and schools to operate in basements. These bombs are not busting bunkers, they are demolishing ordinary people looking for any last refuge of safety,” Ban said.

“International law is clear: The systematic use of indiscriminate weapons in densely populated areas is a war crime,” he said.

Prior to the start of the U.N. meeting, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Russia should be investigated for war crimes following a Monday attack on a Syrian aid convoy that claimed 20 lives.

Johnson said that Russia’s air force may have deliberately targeted the civilian convoy on Sept. 19. Russia denies involvement and instead suggests Syrian rebels or a U.S. drone were responsible.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Russia and Iran will be guilty of war crimes if they don’t pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop escalating violence.

Ayrault said the emergency Security Council meeting Sunday is a “moment of truth” for the U.N.

The meeting was requested by the United States, Britain, and France, as pro-government forces extend their bombardment of the contested city of Aleppo. They are widely believed to be accompanied by Russian air strikes.

Rebels meanwhile shelled Masyaf, a government stronghold near the central city of Hama, for the second day in a row, according to the Observatory.

Masyaf is home to a large number of Alawites, members of President Bashar Assad’s sect. Assad has rallied Syria’s minorities behind his government behind fears of the Sunni-dominated rebellion.

The U.S., Britain, and France are aligned on the Security Council against Russia and China, which back Assad in the country’s protracted war, now in its sixth year.

But a broad coalition of Syrian rebels denounced international negotiations for peace as “meaningless,” earlier Sunday.

The statement released jointly by 33 factions called on the government and Russian forces to halt airstrikes and lift sieges on opposition areas. The U.N. estimates 600,000 Syrians are trapped in various sieges enforced by the government, rebels, and the Islamic State group across the country.

“Negotiations under the present conditions are no longer useful and are meaningless,” the statement said.

The factions said they would not accept to have Russia mediate any negotiations, calling it a “partner to the regime in the crimes against our people.”

The statement was signed by some of the largest factions from across Syria but did not include the powerful, ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham nor the al-Qaida-linked Fatah Sham Front.

Efforts to revive the truce have floundered. An airstrike destroyed a U.N.-backed humanitarian convoy Monday inside opposition territory shortly after the Syrian military announced the agreement had expired. The U.N. says the attack could amount to a war crime if proven deliberate, though it has not assigned responsibility yet. The U.S. says it believes Russian jets were behind the strikes.

Meanwhile, a set of four towns, two besieged by government forces and two by rebels, were reached by aid convoys for the first time in nearly six months, the International Committee for the Red Cross announced.

The organization said Sunday it had reached 60,000 residents trapped in the towns of Madaya, Zabadani, Foua, and Kafraya.

Government forces and rebels have so far blocked the U.N. from establishing regular aid access to besieged areas in Syria. The U.N. estimates 600,000 Syrians are trapped in different sieges.
Between four and 20 people are reported killed by government and Russian airstrikes that hit rebel held areas, five hospitals, and a mobile clinic in Aleppo, says U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau. Syria and Russia deny targeting Aleppo.