At least 35 civilians killed in Syria`s Aleppo: Monitor

Beirut: At least 35 civilians were killed on Saturday as government forces and rebel fighters exchanged fire in Syria`s main northern city of Aleppo, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead included 18 civilians -- two of them children -- killed in regime air strikes on Al-Maadi and Sheikh al-Lutfi, two rebel-held neighbourhoods in east Aleppo.

"Seventeen other civilians were killed when rebel groups fired rockets on neighbourhoods controlled by the regime, including Suleimaniyah and other areas," the Britain-based group said.

Pictures circulating on social media depicted significant damage.

Fighting erupted in Aleppo in 2012, reducing swathes of Syria`s commercial hub to ruins.

Government forces control the west of the city and frequently bomb rebel-held neighbourhoods in the east from the air.

The rebels often retaliate with rocket and mortar fire into government-held neighbourhoods.

Both sides have been criticised by human rights groups for firing indiscriminately on civilians.