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Intense bombing campaign targets Syria civil defense centers

FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015 file photo, comrades carry Ilias Mahmoud al-Taweel, a member of Syrian Civil Defence, or White Helmets, during his funeral in in Douma, the suburbs of Damascus. A volunteer group that rescues civilians from bombed-out buildings in Syria shares this year's Right Livelihood Award, sometimes known as the "Alternative Nobel," with activists from Egypt and Russia and a Turkish newspaper. (Feras Domy via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015 file photo, comrades carry Ilias Mahmoud al-Taweel, a member of Syrian Civil Defence, or White Helmets, during his funeral in in Douma, the suburbs of Damascus. A volunteer group that rescues civilians from bombed-out buildings in Syria shares this year's Right Livelihood Award, sometimes known as the "Alternative Nobel," with activists from Egypt and Russia and a Turkish newspaper. (Feras Domy via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT

By Associated Press September 23, 2016 1 min read

BEIRUT (AP) – A Syria monitoring group and a rescue worker say an intense bombing campaign has targeted several neighborhoods in the rebel-held part of Aleppo city, including centers of the award-winning volunteer civil defense group known as the White Helmets.

The air campaign late Thursday night and Friday morning comes as Syria’s military command announced it is launching operations in Aleppo’s rebel-held eastern quarters, raising concerns of imminent ground operations.

Rami Abdurrahman, of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Friday that government troops seized buildings on the frontline, pushing back rebel fighters in the southern al-Amiriah district.

Ibrahim Alhaj, a member of the Syrian Civil Defense, confirmed the government troop movements. He said the bombing targeted two civil defense centers Friday morning in rebel-held Aleppo, putting one out of service.