Missiles blast Aleppo as Syria army readies ground assault

Missiles rained down on rebel-held areas of Syria's Aleppo on Friday, causing widespread destruction that overwhelmed rescue teams, as the army prepared a ground offensive to retake the city. Forty-five civilians including several children were killed and dozens wounded in the raids on eastern Aleppo by Russian warplanes and regime aircraft, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group. The intensity of the bombardment, which included artillery barrages and barrel bombings by helicopters, brought new misery to the estimated 250,000 civilians besieged by the army.

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