Syria Rebels Close in on Last Regime Bastion in Western Aleppo

Syrian rebels closed in on a police academy in the town of Khan al-Assal in Aleppo province on Sunday, as regime warplanes bombarded their positions there, a watchdog said.

"Should they take the academy building, the whole of northern Aleppo province will fall out of regime control," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The rebels already have large swathes of northern Syria under their control, chiefly Idlib province to the northwest and Raqa and Hasake east of Aleppo.

The army also used tanks to shell the Tariq al-Bab district in eastern Aleppo city, the Observatory said, just two days after dropping three powerful missiles there.

Violence meanwhile raged in several Syrian flashpoints, according to the Observatory.

According to a toll compiled by the Britain-based watchdog, at least 63 people were killed in violence across the country on Sunday.

The Observatory also updated its death toll from a missile attack on Friday on the northern city of Aleppo, saying it killed at least 58 people, among them 36 children.