Syrian army says rebel bombardment of Aleppo killed 84 in three days

Syria's army said on Oct. 31 that the Nusra Front and what the army called other terrorist groups had killed 84 people, mostly women and children, in Aleppo during the past three days, in a bombardment that included chemical weapons and rocket fire. 

The Nusra Front broke allegiance with al-Qaeda and changed its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in July. It is one of the main rebel groups taking part in an offensive against government-held western Aleppo that began on Oct. 28. 

Syrian state media reported on Oct. 30 that militants had fired poison gas at the Hamdaniya district of government-held western Aleppo. Rebels called that accusation a lie. 

In a statement on Oct. 31, the Army and Armed Forces High Command said rebels had targeted schools and civilians, fired 20 poison gas canisters, 50 Grad rockets and ignited 48 fires, Reuters reported.
 
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said it had recorded 48 deaths since the rebel offensive began, including 17 children. 

U.N. peace envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura on Oct. 30 strongly condemned deadly rocket attacks by rebels targeting civilian areas in western Aleppo.

"Credible reports... indicate that scores of civilians in west Aleppo have been killed, including several children, and hundreds wounded due to relentless and indiscriminate attacks from armed opposition groups," De Mistura's office said in a statement, AFP reported.

"[The envoy] is appalled and shocked by the high number of rockets indiscriminately launched by armed opposition groups on civilian suburbs of western Aleppo in the last 48 hours."

Human rights groups and Western countries have previously accused Syria's army, backed by Russia's air force, of...