Blasts kill dozens in Aleppo

A picture shows the scene of car bomb explosions that hit the northern Syrian city of Aleppo yesterday. Photo: AFP

Three car bombs yesterday tore into the heart of Syria's second city Aleppo, killing almost 50 people, mostly troops, as the regime launched an offensive against rebels near Damascus, a watchdog said.
Rebel fighters killed at least 15 soldiers, when they attacked military posts in the northwest of the country, triggering fierce clashes, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
And the bloodshed spilled across the Syrian border when several shells from the conflict crashed into the Turkish town of Akcakale, killing at least five people and wounding nine, witnesses said.
Earlier, on Tuesday, Russia told Nato and world powers they should not seek ways to intervene in Syria's civil war or set up buffer zones between rebels and government forces.
Moscow further called for restraint between Nato-member Turkey and Syria, where violence along their shared border has strained relations between the former allies.
Tensions have flared since a mortar round fired from inside Syria struck the territory of Turkey. Ankara has threatened to respond if the strike were repeated.
When asked by Interfax if Moscow worried whether the tense border situation could prompt Nato to intervene to defend Turkey, its easternmost member, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov warned against any such step.
"In our contacts with partners in Nato and in the region, we are calling on them not to seek pretexts for carrying out a military scenario or to introduce initiatives such as humanitarian corridors or buffer zones."
In Aleppo, two car bombs went off in quick succession around Saadallah al-Jabiri Square near a military officers' club, ripping off part of a hotel's facade and flattening a two-storey cafe, an AFP correspondent reported.
A third bomb exploded soon afterwards at an entrance to the Old City in the nearby district of Bab Jnein, the Observatory and a military official said.
At least 48 people were killed and almost 100 wounded, the Britain-based Observatory said, citing medics. "Most of them were regime troops," it added.
Rebels also attacked a political intelligence branch in Aleppo as well as an old vegetable market where a large number of troops were posted, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground.
Overnight, rebels also destroyed two tanks.
Since Thursday, the fighting has become more intense, spreading at the weekend into the centuries-old, UNESCO-listed souk in the histoc heart of the city and sparking a fire that damaged hundreds of shops.
Bombings have increasingly become part of the unrest ravaging Syria, which began in March 2011 as peaceful protests for reform but has since escalated into an armed insurgency, with more than 31,000 people killed, according to activists.
On July 18, rebels carried out a massive bombing on a complex in Damascus, killing four security chiefs, including President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law and the defence minister.
Regime forces have since pushed the rebels to the outskirts of the capital, but they have lost control of several border crossings and are battling to retake Aleppo.
Nationwide, violence killed at least 90 people yesterday, including eight civilians who died when helicopters strafed the village of Sahn in Hama province, central Syria, the Observatory said.
The UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, is due back in the region this week to try to revive talks aimed at ending the bloodshed, officials said.