Syria jets blitz rebel Aleppo bastions

Syrian warplanes Monday blitzed a string of opposition-held districts in Aleppo, a watchdog said, a day after rebels killed dozens including soldiers in an attack on state buildings in the northern city. At least five people died and an unknown number were hurt when the warplanes staged waves of bombing raids from early morning on the Marjeh, Sakhur, Hanano, Tariq al-Bab and Sheikh Khodr neighborhoods, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "Many buildings were destroyed and the rebels used anti-aircraft guns" against the warplanes, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground for its information. Abdel Rahman gave a toll of at least 27 people killed in Sunday's attack by rebels on government buildings in a western district of Aleppo, near the municipal stadium. "It appears that many soldiers were among the dead, and that there were a number of people were wounded, some of the seriously," he added. The official SANA news agency, which blamed the attack on "terrorists," gave the same death toll and said 64 people were wounded. Elsewhere in the conflict-torn country, five civilians were killed and dozens hurt when regime forces shelled rebel areas of the capital Damascus near Sayeda Zeinab, an important Shiite pilgrimage shrine, the Observatory said. Deadly violence also flared in Daraa province, where a mother and her child were killed, as well as in the central province of Hama, the Observatory said, giving an initial toll of 15 people killed countryside so far on Monday. It said that on Sunday 160 people were killed -- 108 civilians, 22 rebels et 30 government soldiers -- adding to a toll of more than 27,000 people killed since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March last year.