Airstrikes and artillery bombardment pounded opposition-held east Aleppo for the fourth consecutive day on Friday (November 18th) as part of an escalating military offensive, AFP reported.

"I have never heard such intense artillery bombardments," said Najib Fakhoury, head of the White Helmets volunteer rescue group in opposition-held Ansari district.

"Earlier, we received a call for help to extinguish a fire," he said. "But we cannot go because the shells are falling on the streets."

The bombardment came as regime troops pressed an assault on the southern neighbourhood of Sheikh Said, which they briefly entered before being pushed back by opposition fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Opposition fighters riposted by firing more than a dozen rockets into regime-held areas of the city, the Observatory added.

At least 65 civilians have been killed since the offensive resumed Tuesday, the Observatory said.

Syria regime and allied aircraft continued to bomb several cities and towns in Idlib on Friday, according to the AFP correspondent in the province.

Regime artillery fire also hit the besieged opposition-held town of Douma, east of Damascus.