Syrian Civilians Killed in Aleppo as Regime Forces and Rebels Launch Fresh Attacks

At least five children were killed during a Syrian regime airstrike that hit a school in an opposition-held area in the country’s second largest city, Aleppo, Reuters reports.

“Military aircraft struck a school in east Aleppo city and killed five children, three female teachers and one man,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The strikes follow a deadly weekend in Aleppo that left over 30 civilians dead.

According to the Observatory, 17 people were killed in the government-held district of Suleimaniyah, which was shelled by rebels early Saturday morning, and 15 were killed in an army airstrike that later hit a market in the opposition-held neighborhood of Maadi in apparent retaliation.

Aleppo is divided between Syrian regime and opposition forces. The Syrian regime controls the west and frequently bombs rebel-held neighborhoods in the east from the air, and the rebels often retaliate with rocket and mortar fire.

Many schools in Syria have been forced to close due to the violence, while others are forced to hold classes in makeshift settings like basements.

More than 50,000 teachers have fled Syria or been killed, while 2.6 million children are out of school inside the war-torn country.

Kurdish Forces Gain Ground Against ISIS Forces Near Raqqa and Hassakeh

Kurdish forces made headway on Sunday into Syria’s northern Raqqa province, the de facto capital of the self-proclaimed state, AFP reports.

The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) “took over a large cement factory and three villages” northwest of the town of Ain Issa, located just 35 miles from Raqqa, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Ain Issa is also located near Tal Abyad, a border town used by ISIS militants as a gateway for fighters coming in from Turkey.

Meanwhile, ISIS militants were also pushed back by Kurdish forces in the northeastern province of Hassakeh on Friday night.

The YPG “retook at least four checkpoints and a number of neighborhoods” around the town of Tal Tamr, the AFP reports.

Tal Tamr is strategically located on road that runs east across the Iraqi border to ISIS’s bastion in Mosul, as well as north to the Turkish border.

According to the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the attack was part of a Kurdish “counteroffensive” against an ISIS assault on the town that began in February.

The Islamic State is still holding some 200 Assyrian Christians kidnapped from villages near the town in February.

Since ousting ISIS from Kobani in January, Kurdish forces backed by coalition strikes have retaken much of surrounding countryside in the northern province of Aleppo and have began encroaching east into Raqqa province.

The U.S.-led coalition began to target ISIS around Tal Tamr following an appeal for assistance by Kurdish forces last month.

Meanwhile, in recent weeks, ISIS has had encroached westward on rebel and government-held territory from its eastern strongholds, including an attempt to seize the Yarmouk refugee camp on the Damascus outskirts.

“The assaults are all well beyond the areas targeted to date in the U.S.-led aerial campaign focused mostly in the east and north,” Reuters reports.

Pro-Government Forces Thwart ISIS Attack on Key Military Airport

Pro-government forces thwarted an attack on a key Syrian military airport by the Islamic State, AFP reports.

“Militants who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group attacked the outskirts of the Khalkhalah military airport in Sweida province on Friday,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

At least 20 pro-government troops and at least 15 ISIS militants were killed in the attack on Khalkhalah airport, which lies along a major highway between Damascus and the regime-held city of Sweida.

It was the first time that ISIS has attacked Khalkhalah, but the airport has been previously targeted by rebels and Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra.

Sweida, a stronghold of the Druze minority,has largely avoided the bloodshed of Syria’s war.

“In March, Syrian rebels and Islamist fighters seized the town of Bosra al-Sham, which is south of Sweida but located along the same highway as Khalkhalah airport,” AFP writes.

Recommended Reads:

• New York Times: U.N. Official Visits Syria to Press Urgency of Besieged Refuge Camp
• AFP: More Than 6,000 European Jihadists in Syria: EU Official
• Reuters: Syria Talks End in Moscow with No Progress
• Daily Star: Two Lebanese Men Killed in a Car Bomb in Syria

Photo Courtesy of AP Images