Damascus: Syrian rebels shelled a government-held neighbourhood in the northern city of Aleppo early on Saturday, killing at least five people and wounding dozens, Syrian state television and an activist group reported.
The violence came as the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees planned to undertake an "urgent mission" to Damascus later today amid concerns over the situation in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, most of which has been captured by the Islamic State group.
State TV said the shelling on the predominantly Christian and Armenian neighborhood of Suleimaniyeh in Aleppo early today killed nine people, wounded another 50 and damaged several buildings.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists around the country, said the shelling killed five and wounded "tens."
Syrian rebels have shelled residential areas in government-held parts of the contested city in the past, killing hundreds of people.
Government warplanes have dropped explosives-filled barrels on rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo and other cities, killing thousands.
State TV said the rebels shelled the neighbourhood with a so-called Hell Cannon, a crude, locally made weapon that fires gas cylinders filled with explosives. The projectiles cause widespread damage and cannot be precisely targeted.
The TV showed a building with its top three stories collapsed.
Aleppo, Syria's largest city and its former commercial capital, became a key front in the country's civil war after rebels launched an offensive there in July 2012.
