At least 15 killed in air strike on market in rebel-held Aleppo

Buildings were reduced to rubble following air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern city of Aleppo. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

The strike came as rescuers were still sifting through the rubble from air raids that killed dozens the day before.

Activists said the early afternoon strike destroyed several shops in the besieged eastern part of the city, which has been the target of a massive Russian-backed Syrian offensive since the collapse of a ceasefire last month.

The latest strikes have shattered a relative lull that has held for three days in the area, where hospitals, underground shelters and buildings had been targeted for weeks.

On Tuesday, Russian or Syrian aircraft bombed several neighbourhoods, killing at least 41 people, including five children, according to the Syrian Civil Defence, a group of volunteer first responders, and the activist-run Aleppo Media Centre. Both groups said 15 people were killed in yesterday’s strike.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of contacts in Syria, gave lower tolls for the attacks but said they were likely to rise. Varying reports of casualties are common in the chaotic aftermath of attacks in Syria.

The Observatory said at least 358 civilians have been killed in eastern Aleppo since a US- and Russian-brokered truce collapsed on 19 September. The UN said more than 100 children have been killed in the campaign, which has also seen a limited ground offensive.

Syria Civil Defence workers pulled at least one boy alive from under the rubble on Tuesday, amid cheers from onlookers. Jamil Habboush, 13, emerged covered in dust and dazed from the flattened building, gripping his rescuer tightly. The boy had lost his father and brother in previous bombings. His mother survived but remains in critical condition, said Ibrahim al-Haj, a member of the Syrian Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets.