At least 14 people have been killed and dozens more wounded by militant rocket attacks on government-held areas in the divided Syrian city of Aleppo.

According to Syria�s state-run SANA news agency, most of the victims were killed in the city�s Hamdaniyeh district on Wednesday.



Clashes are intensifying around the city�s southern regions as both sides�are preparing for a major battle for the control of the city.

The Syrian city has been divided since 2012 between government forces in the west and the militants in the east.

Over the last few days, fierce clashes have been underway in and around Aleppo between government forces and terrorists over the control of�militant-held areas.

Meanwhile, Russia has announced that it will halt airstrikes around the northwestern Syrian�city of Aleppo for three hours each day to allow humanitarian convoys into the ravaged city.

 


[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"] Syrians look at the damage in a street in the Syrian government held area of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo following rocket attacks by militants on July 11, 2016.[/caption]


Russia has been bombing the Takfiri groups of�Daesh and the so-called Jabhat Fath al-Sham, the former al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, in Syria at the official request of the Damascus government since September 2015.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. UN�envoy�for Syria�Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

By Press TV