The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that two nights of shelling by rebel forces killed at least 30 people, including children and women.
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Lands in the camp were retaken after heavy clashes with the terrorist groups, while the Syrian artillery and Russian fighter jets continue targeting the militants amid the operation.
The crash killed all five people on board, in the biggest loss of life for Russian forces since they started operations in Syria.
Rebel sources provided video of people receiving treatment who they say were among the victims of a gas attack, but the images were not conclusive and neither of the gas attack claims by the rebels or the government could be independently verified.
Raed Al Halabi, a fighter in the local Halab al-Shahba Brigades, said on Tuesday a coalition of armed groups will launch shells and vehicle bomb attacks against Aleppo’s government-held neighbourhoods with the hope of advancing and opening the government-besieged supply route into the city. However, it is “possible that the Russian helicopter was indeed carrying both aid and empty pods”, said Jeremy Binnie.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible.
The Mi-8 helicopter was hit by ground fire as it returned to the Hemeimeem air base from a mission to the embattled city of Aleppo, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
A “last chance” offensive against government forces in Aleppo has run into major setbacks, as Russian Federation reportedly increased air strikes to roll back rebel advances.
Rebels mainly from Jaish al Fatah alliance of Islamist groups pushed from the south of the city while fighters from Free Syrian Army (FSA) brigades pounded government-held areas of Syria’s most populous city and commercial hub before the war broke out in 2011. In another video, its tail can be seen lying separately from the aircraft’s body in flames.
The city’s southern edges have been ravaged by intense fighting in recent days as rebels seek to ease a government siege and cut off the regime’s own access route into the rest of the northern province.
So far nobody has claimed the responsibility for the downed helicopter.
The U.N. estimates about 300,000 people are still trapped in the rebel-held section of Aleppo, with dwindling food and medical supplies.
Asked if he was dismayed August 1 had come without a political transition to help end Syria’s five-year civil war, Kerry said the target date was set earlier this year when there were hopes political talks could take hold amid a reduction in violence.
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Elsewhere in Aleppo province, the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, advanced inside the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group bastion of Manbij on Monday, the Observatory reported.
