Rebels launch counteroffensive in Aleppo

Rebel forces launch a counteroffensive in Aleppo.

They are responding to escalated air assaults by government forces trying to recapture territory and drive residents out of opposition-held areas.

The video, which can not be independently verified by Reuters shows desolated streets with the sounds of sirens ringing in despair.

President Bashar al-Assad's forces recently mounted a series of attacks on Aleppo city, once Syria's business hub.

The government is suspected of using so-called barrel bombs - oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and metal fragments, dropped out of helicopters.

In the aftermath parts of Aleppo's are left broken and battered.

Buildings -- cracked open -- are a shell of what once was.

Activists say the government assault is aimed at pushing out civilians as the army tries to seize the initiative on the long-stalemated Aleppo battlefront.

It's a fight where anyone is a target.

The conflict in Syria has