Army, rebels trade fire in Syria’s Aleppo as truce end looms

Aleppo / AFP

The Syrian army exchanged fire with rebels in battleground second city Aleppo even before the expiry at midnight on Wednesday of a Russian- and US-brokered ceasefire.
Two people were wounded early Wednesday when regime aircraft strafed rebel positions in two eastern neighbourhoods of the divided city with heavy machinegun fire, an AFP correspondent reported.
Late Tuesday, government warplanes struck two other rebel-held neighbourhoods, the correspondent added. Rebel rocket fire hit two government-controlled neighbourhoods in the west of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Rebel sniper fire killed one person late Tuesday, the state SANA news agency reported.
A local truce took effect in Aleppo last Thursday after a surge in fighting in the city killed more than 300 people and threatened to unravel a nationwide ceasefire between government forces and non-extremist rebels in force since February.