ALEPPO, Syria
The Syrian regime is carrying out air strikes to help Daesh advance in Syria's second city, Aleppo, an opposition official told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
"Both regime forces and Daesh are attacking on civilian opposition areas," said Ahmad Mohammad, a press official from the opposition group Damascus Front.
He said at least 20 civilians were killed and dozens wounded during the attacks of the regime and Daesh in northern Tell Rifaat town of Aleppo.
"Warplanes attacked Handarat district, Rityan and Hardatayn towns, and Tell Karak and Ihsan villages of Aleppo with barrel bombs," he said.
Mohammad said that a helicopter killed at least 14 people when it assaulted a market place in Jub al-Quba region of the city.
He said warplanes carried out attacks everyday on civilian population areas with barrel bombs, and Daesh and regime forces were helping each other in every aspect.
Mohammad claimed that Daesh wanted to make advances into Aleppo and was shelling the city's Mari town with artillery.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday, after a meeting of foreign ministers in Paris: "We have always been saying that the regime [of Bashar al-Assad] and Daesh are in cooperation. Recently, we started to see it clearly. The U.S. State Department spokeswoman also said this yesterday.”
Marie Harf said Monday there were reports indicating "the regime [was] making airstrikes in support of ISIL's [Daesh] advance on Aleppo, aiding the extremists in their attacks on the Syrian population."
Syria has been gripped by an internal conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people, including an excess of 10,000 children, according to the UN.
