Militant rocket attacks kill 13 in Syria’s Aleppo

At least 13 civilians have been killed in terrorist rocket attacks targeting several neighborhoods in Syria’s northwestern city of Aleppo.

A local official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said nine civilians were killed and 28 others, including children and women, injured when terrorists targeted al-Sulaymaniyah and al-Furqan neighborhoods as worshipers were leaving mosques after Friday prayers.

The attacks caused significant material damage to a number of cars and houses in the two neighborhoods, the source added.

Meanwhile, at least four people were killed and 10 others wounded after terrorist groups positioned in the eastern part of the city fired rockets on Sulaiman al-Halabi and al-Midan neighborhoods, a source at the Aleppo police command said, adding that four of the injured were in a critical condition.

Aleppo has been divided since 2012 between government forces in the west and the militants in the east.

This is not the first time that foreign-backed militants have targeted civilians in Syria. The attacks come amid the advances by the Syrian army against terrorists.

Militants have suffered major setbacks over the past few months as the Syrian army, backed by Russian air cover, has managed to wrest control over several important areas across the country.

On September 25, Syria’s envoy to the United Nations Bashar al-Ja’afari told the UN Security Council that the country would not cede a single inch of its territory as per the Syrian constitution and the rules of international law.

A ceasefire, brokered by the US and Russia in Syria, expired on September 19 after being in place for only a week.

Damascus, however, refused to extend it after US-led air raids killed over 80 of its army forces and wounded some 100 others at a military base in the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr in violation of the truce.