Pro-Syrian government forces have launched a fierce air bombardment on rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo after several weeks of relative calm and as Russia announced that its aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov would anchor a major operation in Syria.

People inside the city reported a heavy pace of attacks, and rights groups confirmed at least three people had died within a few hours.

“Regime aircraft launched strikes and dropped barrel bombs on a number of neighbourhoods in the east of Aleppo for the first time since 18 October,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The attacks on Aleppo came just hours after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, discussed Syria with the US president-elect, Donald Trump. They agreed on the need to combine their fights in the battle against “international terrorism and extremism”, Putin’s office said in a statement.

The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said Russia had launched new missile strikes against Daesh militants in Syria, using missiles and jets flying from the Admiral Kuznetsov, which made a much-publicised trip from Russia to Syria last month.

He did not mention Aleppo, where Russian bombing has been particularly controversial.

Source: MENA