Monitor: Airstrikes in Syria’s Aleppo despite ceasefire

BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian war monitoring group says airstrikes have targeted rural Aleppo for the first time in months since a cease-fire took hold in the province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes Sunday pounded Syria’s rural Idlib and Hama, where insurgents led by an al-Qaida-linked group began an offensive against government troops in the area. There was no immediate word on casualties in Sunday’s bombings.

A “de-escalation” deal reached in May has dramatically reduced the violence in most of Syria.

The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, said its rescuers came under attack Saturday from airstrikes as they were carrying out search and rescue operations in Mardikh, a village in northern Idlib, which has been struck repeatedly.