Air strikes and barrel bomb attacks killed 16 civilians in rebel-held parts of Aleppo province on Monday (July 25th), with rebel rocket fire onto government areas killing three more, AFP reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 civilians had been killed in multiple regime-led air strikes on the rebel-held town of Atareb in Aleppo province.

In Aleppo city meanwhile, at least six civilians were killed in barrel bomb attacks by regime forces on eastern rebel-held neighbourhoods, the Observatory said.

The monitor said the toll was expected to rise because of the number of people with injuries and still trapped under rubble.

In recent weeks, regime forces seized parts of the only remaining supply route into the city's east, severing opposition neighbourhoods from the outside world and prompting food shortages and spiralling prices.

The Observatory said at least three civilians had been killed in rebel fire on western Aleppo on Monday.

On Sunday, rebel rocket fire hit central Damascus after air raids struck four makeshift hospitals in Aleppo.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said at least eight people were killed and 20 wounded when rockets rained down on several neighbourhoods of Old Damascus.