DAMASCUS, Syria — Insurgents shelled a government-held area in the contested city of Aleppo, hitting a mosque and killing at least 15 people as they left Friday prayers, while government airstrikes struck rebel-held parts of Syria's largest city — even as the army unilaterally declared a brief truce in other parts of the country.
The violence in Aleppo has killed more than 200 civilians over the past week and is likely to continue unchecked, as the government's cease-fire does not include the city.
At least 15 people were killed and 30 injured when rockets struck Malla Khan mosque in the government-held Bab al-Faraj district shortly after Friday prayers, Syrian state TV reported.
"We want the army to finish them," an Aleppo resident told state TV outside a hospital where some of the dead and wounded were taken.
The attack followed an early morning lull in airstrikes on rebel-held parts of Aleppo, following days of deadly violence that killed scores.
Yet by late morning air raids resumed on the city, killing at least 10 people, according to activists from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.