Syrian troops capture high point in Aleppo: report

Government forces take Bazo hilltop, shelling rebel-held areas of major battleground city

By AP 24 October 2016, 1:58 pm

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Syrian regime forces gather at the Kindi Hospital as smoke billows following aistrikes on Aleppo on October 2, 2016. (AFP/George Ourfalian)

Syrian state media and opposition activists say government forces and their allies have captured a high point in the city of Aleppo where fighting with rebel groups resumed over the weekend.

The SANA news agency said on Monday that the government troops took the hilltop of Bazo on the southern edge of Aleppo, near military bases.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Bazo was taken amid heavy bombardment. The Observatory and the Aleppo Media Center, an activist collective, say that government forces are shelling the eastern, rebel-held neighborhoods of Aleppo.

SANA says rebels shelled government-held neighborhoods, killing one person and wounding seven.

Fighting returned to Aleppo on Saturday night, after a lull meant to allow rebels and civilians to leave the eastern districts expired without anyone leaving.