Syria rebel rocket fire kills 13 in Aleppo: State TV

A woman inspects her damaged home in Aleppo December 15, 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS

DAMASCUS: Syrian rebel rocket fire hit a government-held neighbourhood in the northern city of Aleppo Friday, killing at least 13 people, state television said.

“The toll in rockets fired by terrorists on Ashrafiyeh district has risen to 13, including women and children,” the report said.

Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least seven people killed and five hurt in the attack on the western neighbourhood.

Once the country’s economic hub, control of Aleppo has been divided between the government and opposition since shortly after fighting began there in mid-2012.

Regime war planes have waged an aerial offensive on the eastern, rebel-held districts, frequently dropping barrel bombs on the area.

And opposition forces have also regularly fired rockets into the government-held part of the city, and clashes on the ground continue.

In recent weeks, the city has also been afflicted by a water outage after groups including al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, al-Nusra Front, cut supplies from a pumping station in the Suleiman al-Halabi district.

After more than a week without water, the Observatory and Syria’s Red Crescent Aleppo branch have reported the return of supply to some parts of both government and rebel areas of the city.

On Thursday, the Red Crescent’s Aleppo branch said on Twitter that the pumping station had resumed operations, but it was unclear if all parts of the city were receiving water yet.