Warplanes mounted the heaviest airstrikes in months against rebel-held districts of the city of Aleppo overnight, as Russia and the Syrian government spurned a US plea to halt flights, burying any hope for a revival of a doomed cease-fire.

Rebel officials and rescue workers said incendiary bombs were among the weapons that rained from the sky on the city. Hamza al-Khatib, director of a hospital in the rebel-held east, told Reuters the death toll was 45. “It’s as if the planes are trying to compensate for all the days they didn’t drop bombs” during the cease-fire, Ammar al-Selmo, head of the civil defense rescue service in opposition-held eastern Aleppo, told Reuters.(nypost.com)…[+]