Syria resumes Aleppo raids

Syrian government air strikes and barrel bomb attacks hit residential neighbourhoods of rebel-held east Aleppo on Tuesday for the first time in nearly a month, a monitor said.

"Regime aircraft launched strikes and dropped barrel bombs on a number of neighbourhoods in the east of Aleppo for the first time since October 18," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

An AFP photographer in the eastern side of the city said the Sakhur and Masakan Hanano neighbourhoods had been hit.

The bombardment of east Aleppo ended a period of relative quiet for more than 250,000 people living in the besieged rebel-held side of the city.

The respite came after international criticism of a ferocious assault launched by Syrian and Russian forces on September 22 in a bid to recapture eastern Aleppo city.

Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by the war that started in March 2011 with anti-government protests.