07 July 2016•Update: 12 July 2016
By Khaled Suleyman
ALEPPO, Syria
Russian and Syrian regime warplanes struck opposition-held parts of Syria’s northwestern Aleppo province on Thursday, according to local sources, despite a 72-hour unilateral ceasefire announced one day earlier by the Syrian army.
"Russian jets struck residential districts of the village of Kafr Hamra in northwestern Aleppo using cluster bombs, white phosphorous and vacuum munitions," Yasser Abu Ammar, an Aleppo-based activist, told Anadolu Agency.
The airstrikes had severely damaged a number of homes in the area, he said, going on to note that Aleppo’s opposition-held Haritan and Anadan areas had also been targeted.
Abu Ammar did not say, however, whether any members of the opposition Free Syrian Army had been killed or injured in the strikes.
According to another local source, who spoke anonymously due to fears for his safety, fierce clashes erupted on Thursday between regime and opposition forces in Aleppo’s northern Al-Malah area, which were followed by airstrikes by Syrian regime warplanes.
The same source said that Syrian regime troops had advanced towards the strategic Al-Castello Road, which represents opposition forces’ only way out of Aleppo city.
"The opposition, however, has since managed to halt the advance by regime forces," he said.
On Wednesday, the Syrian regime’s armed forces declared a 72-hour ceasefire to be applied across all Syrian territory from 1:00 a.m. Wednesday to midnight Friday.
