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Those killed included regime and rebel fighters who were slain in a government assault and jihadist-led counterattack.
Updated : Jun 30, 2016, 11:31 PM IST
At least 70 regime and rebel fighters have been killed in 24 hours in a government assault and a jihadist-led counterattack in northern Syria, a monitor said on Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 30 regime soldiers and 39 rebel fighters had been killed in battles around Al-Maleh, north of Aleppo, since yesterday afternoon. Jihadist fighting for the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, were also killed, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman, who did not provide a precise number.
The government of President Bashar al-Assad has been attempting to seize Al-Maleh for more than two years. His forces have been trying for months to surround Aleppo by cutting supply lines between rebel-held districts of the city and nearby Turkey, which supports opposition forces.
For nearly a week, regime troops backed by Syrian and Russian warplanes have been battling for control of Al-Maleh. Assad's regime is also attempting to cut the Castello Road, a key supply route from the Turkish border to rebel-held eastern suburbs of Aleppo.
The pro-regime website Al-Masdar News reported that the Syrian army withdrew from the farms of Al-Maleh as they faced a rebel counter-offensive led by the Al-Nusra Front. It said rebels attacked government forces with two suicide car bombs.
The majority of Aleppo province is controlled by Al-Nusra and its Islamist allies, while the city, the country's pre-war commercial capital, has been divided since July 2012 into rebel-held and regime-held areas. The conflict in Syria, which has lasted five years, has killed more than 280,000 people.