Syria crisis: Fresh clashes in Aleppo

There have been fresh reports of clashes and attacks by helicopter gunships in Aleppo as the Syrian army offensive enters its fourth day.

State TV said Syrian forces were inflicting heavy losses on "terrorist groups" in Aleppo and also claimed government successes in Homs.
Thousands of refugees are continuing to flee Aleppo - Syria's commercial hub.

Meanwhile the US and Turkey have agreed to step up efforts to achieve "political transition" in Syria.
This would include the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the White House said.
According to Syrian TV, government troops have been gaining ground in several Aleppo neighbourhoods.
On Monday, it reported that the army had won complete control over Salah al-Din, one of the areas of Aleppo where rebel fighters from the Free Syrian Army had become entrenched.
Analysts say Salah al-Din provides an important route for Syrian troop reinforcements coming from the south.
But activists and rebel commanders denied that government forces had gained ground there.

Rebel fighters are outgunned by Syrian government forces but do have some anti-aircraft weapons

They report renewed heavy shelling and helicopter gunship attacks there and in other rebel-held areas on Tuesday, especially around the Sakhour quarter on the north-east side of Aleppo.
Fierce fighting also taken place near the headquarters of the feared Air Force Intelligence agency to the west of the city, they say.
State television completely ignored events in Aleppo in its early morning news programmes on Tuesday, the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says.
Instead, it broadcast a detailed report from Homs, where it said the quarter of Qarabis, which has long been held by rebel fighters, had finally fallen to government forces.
But later bulletins carried reports of Syrian forces inflicting heavy losses on ''terrorist groups'' in Aleppo districts.
Correspondents say neither side can afford to lose Aleppo, Syria's largest city and is the country's industrial and financial centre.
Until this month it had been spared the daily bloodshed seen in other cities since the uprising began in March 2011.
Supplies are now reported to be running out in certain areas and those citizens remaining in the city face long queues for bread.
Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, said thousands of frightened residents had sought shelter from the fighting in schools, mosques and public buildings.
"These are the people who haven't fled the city, haven't had the means or feel that it's too dangerous to make that journey," she said.
"There are 32 schools in Aleppo that we've identified and in each of those schools, we have heard, or we have witnessed, that 250-300 people were packed inside, many of these families, kids."