Rebels attacked Syrian government positions in the historic center of Aleppo on Monday in response to an offensive that cut a road leading into the opposition-held sector of the city, monitors and insurgents said.
The shelling of government-held neighborhoods and intense street fighting came days after the advance by the government side towards the Castello Road. Rebels have relied on the road for supply runs and access to Aleppo through much of Syria's civil war, and its severing effectively put opposition-held areas where some 250,000 people live under siege.
Aleppo has been a major battleground in the conflict, now in its sixth year. Fighting there escalated after UN-brokered peace talks and a ceasefire unravelled earlier this year.
Early on Monday more than 300 shells fired by rebels hit western, government-held neighbourhoods of Aleppo, killing five people and wounding dozens more, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. State television said eight people had been killed and that the bombardments had brought down buildings.
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