A hospital, blood bank and ambulances are reported to have been hit as Syrian government aircraft and artillery bombarded rebel-held eastern Aleppo.

The director of the Bayan Children’s Hospital was forced to take shelter in the facility’s basement, reports the BBC.

Activists say at least 32 people, including children, have been killed in Aleppo over the past two days.

The air strikes resumed on Tuesday (November 15) after a three-week moratorium declared by the government’s ally Russia ended.

Activists confirmed the resumption of government air strikes, amid reports by state media of large troop deployments on several fronts ahead of a major ground assault.

Aleppo, once Syria’s commercial and industrial hub, has been divided in roughly two since 2012, with the government controlling the west and rebels the east.

In the past year, Syrian troops have broken the deadlock with the help of Iranian-backed militias and Russian air strikes.

On 22 September, two weeks after encircling the east and imposing a siege on its 275,000 residents, they launched an all-out offensive to take full control of the city.

The government and its ally Russia halted air strikes on 18 October to allow civilians and rebels to leave, but few took up the offer.

By the end of the month, air strikes and shelling had killed more than 700 civilians in the east, while rocket-fire had left scores dead in the west, according to the UN.

BDST: 0842 HRS, NOV 17, 2016
NJ/SR