Damascus: As many as 500 people have been killed since the Syrian army launched a wide-scale offensive in the province of Aleppo, a monitor group reported on Wednesday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 89 civilians were among those killed since the beginning of the month, adding that the rest were militant fighters, Xinhua reported.
The Syrian army has made sweeping progress in Aleppo, capturing key towns from the Turkey-backed rebels, aiming to close the borders with Turkey, from which many foreign jihadists are infiltrating Syria.
A day earlier, Syria's Presidential Political and Media Advisor Bouthaina Shaaban said the aim of the army's advances in Aleppo is liberating cities and village seized by terrorists for nearly three years and controlling the borders with Turkey.
