Syrian army captures second rebel district in Aleppo

The Syrian military has announced it had taken control of a second residential district of the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo city in two days, as government air strikes continue to target opposition areas of the country leaving over a dozen people dead, Al Jazeera has reported.

The army said it and allies had taken full control of the Jabal Badro district on Sunday, a day after capturing Hanano, a neighbouring residential district.

The capture of Jabal Badro comes as activists reported tens of civilian casualties from a presumed government or Russian air strike on a village outside Aleppo.

The Local Coordination Committees activist network in Syria reported 15 civilians killed in a Russian air strike on Sunday on the village of Anjara, controlled by the opposition in the western Aleppo countryside, and tens of others wounded.

Activists usually identify planes by their silhouettes and home base.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike was accompanied by raids on other opposition-held villages in the Aleppo countryside.

As the government offensive continues in opposition neighbourhoods of the city, around 400 people have fled to areas under government control, the monitoring group said on Sunday.

An additional 30 families fled to Sheikh Maqsoud, which is under Kurdish control, it added.

Syrian state media also reported that hundreds of families had vacated areas under rebel control.

Al Jazeera’s Osama bin Javaid, reporting from Gaziantep on the Turkey-Syria border on Sunday, said civilians continue to flee the besieged part of the city.