A statement by the Syrian army and its allies, published on the website of Hezbollah’s Al Manar channel, said: “Units of the Syrian Arab Army and allies in Aleppo and its countryside have begun responding to violations by terrorist groups and Jabhat al-Nusra, which broke the truce, alongside intense, concentrated airstrikes.”
An opposition fighter said it was the heaviest attack in southern Aleppo since the US–Russian agreement on a cessation of hostilities began. Hani al-Khaled, of the Thuwar al-Sham Brigades affiliated with the Levant Front, said the attack had been repelled and fighters alongside government forces had suffered heavy losses.
The Observatory said government forces had advanced but had not captured al-Eis hill.
The Syrian army and its allies launched a major assault on opposition fighters south of Aleppo on Tuesday night, described as their fiercest in the area since the cessation-of-hostilities agreement took effect in February.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army used airstrikes, artillery and rockets in an effort to recapture the hilltop town of al-Eis, which opposition fighters had seized in recent days.
Earlier reports said Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, had shot down a Syrian warplane in the area on Tuesday and captured its pilot.