Scores killed in fierce fighting south of Aleppo: Monitor

More than 73 people were killed in fighting on Friday between Syrian government forces and opposition rebels south of Aleppo in northern Syria, according to a monitoring group.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that air attacks by government forces and heavy artillery exchanges took place in and around the village of Khan Tuman where opposition fighters from groups including the Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham launched an attack on Thursday.

Khan Tuman is strategically important because it is close to the main road between Damascus and Aleppo.

The observatory said 43 of those killed were fighters with the al-Qaeda-aligned Nusra Front, which fights alongside other opposition groups in northern Syria. Thirty were members of Syrian government forces or allied militias.

Aleppo city has been subjected to heavy air strikes by Syrian government forces and has seen fierce fighting in recent weeks.

A 48-hour partial ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia between pro-government forces and some rebel groups is currently supposed to be in place, but Nusra and other groups considered to be terrorist organisations by the United Nations are excluded from the truce.

On Thursday, air strikes killed at least 28 civilians in a refugee camp near the Turkish border, the observatory said.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the observatory, said the air strikes that also left 50 civilians wounded targeted a camp near Sarmada in Idlib province, which is controlled by the Nusra Front and its rebel allies.

Mamun al-Khatib, director of the Aleppo-based pro-rebel Shahba Press news agency, accused the government of carrying out the attacks.

"Two regime aircraft fired four missiles at the camp in the village of al-Kammouna," he said.

"Two missiles fell near the the camp, causing people to panic, and two more hit inside, setting a dozen tents on fire."

Images shared online by activists showed emergency workers putting out fires among damaged blue-and-white tents.

Khatib said the camp was home to thousands of people who had fled fighting in the north of Aleppo province.

But Syria's military on Friday denied having attacked the camp.

"There is no truth in the information in some media that the Syrian air force targeted the displaced camp in Idlib province" on Thursday, the SANA news agency quoted the military as saying.

Syrian and Russian warplanes have been carrying out sustained airstrikes in opposition-held territory that have been blamed for killing many civilians.

The US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group has also carried out airstrikes close to refugee camps in northern Syria.

Last August the US was accused of killing civilians living in the town of Atmeh, a hub for internally displaced refugees in Idlib province.

The coalition also bombed a Nusra Front headquarters in Atmeh in March 2015.

A White House spokesperson condemned the attack on the camp.

“There is no justifiable excuse for carrying out an airstrike against innocent civilians who have already once fled their homes to escape violence,” spokesman Josh Earnest said.

“These individuals are in the most desperate situation imaginable. And there's no justification for carrying out military action that's targeting them.”

A United Nations official on Friday called for an inquiry into the attack and said it could constitute a war crime.

"The suspicion will fall initially on the Syrian government and we will want to make sure that they, or whoever it is, are fully held to account for this absolutely abominable act," UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien told the BBC.

"Be in no doubt that all these terrible acts, wherever they happen and whoever perpetrates them, will not be forgotten and the people who perpetrate them will be held to account."

The air strikes come after an intense diplomatic push to revive a landmark ceasefire and salvage peace efforts to end Syria's five-year conflict.

The 27 February nationwide ceasefire between the government and rebels did not cover areas where Nusra is present.

Syria's conflict has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions since it started after a brutal crackdown of anti-government protests in 2011.