Syrian opposition fighters have rejected claims that regime forces and its allies, including fighters from the Shia Lebanese Hezbollah armed group, have taken back control of parts of Aleppo recently captured by opposition.

Hassan al-Eshra, a fighter in the Jaysh al-Islam armed group, said they and other opposition groups were still in control of the flash point neighborhood of Ramosa in Aleppo on Tuesday evening, despite regime forces attempts to recapture it.

"We haven't fallen back from any of the sites... we took from the regime three days ago," Eshra told Al Jazeera by telephone from the front line. "Yesterday the regime tried [to recapture Ramosa] three times, but it is strategically incapable."

Syrian opposition groups have said they are fighting to hang on to key areas in the embattled northern city of Aleppo as regime forces and their allies escalate their attacks.

Eshra also told Al Jazeera that the opposition forces were still in control of the Telat al-Snobarat area on the southwestern edge of Aleppo.

"This area is still under our control," he said, adding that opposition forces targeted an industrial area and gas field north of the city with several missiles.

Fatah Halab, a coalition of national and local opposition groups, broke the regime-imposed siege on the city over the weekend along with Jaish al-Fatah, or the Army of Conquest.
The Syrian regime sent thousands of reinforcements to the city in recent days as part of an attempt to reverse gains made by opposition groups.

Air strikes

Earlier in the day, the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least nine people were killed in regime air strikes on eastern, opposition-controlled Aleppo.

Meanwhile, injuries were reported in the regime-held part of the city as opposition groups fired shells into the area.

'Grave risk'

The United Nations on Tuesday called for humanitarian access to the embattled city amid fears that trapped civilians were enduring food and water shortages.

"These cuts are coming amid a heatwave, putting children at a grave risk of waterborne diseases," Hanaa Singer, UNICEF's representative in Syria, said in a statement.

The statement said Aleppo's civilians, particularly children, could face a "humanitarian catastrophe" as fighting is poised to intensify.
Fayez Sandeh, a resident of Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, said very little food or medicine has entered the city in recent days as fighting continues unabated.
"Fuel hasn't entered yet and the electricity isn't regularly [there]," he told Al Jazeera. "We haven't had water for more than 10 days. We use well water, but it's not healthy for humans. We don't have any other options."

PHOTO CAPTION

Opposition fighters ride a tank in an artillery academy of Aleppo, Syria, August 6, 2016 (Reuters).

Al-Jazeera