(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Schools in rebel-held areas of Syria's Aleppo city will be closed for at least a week after bloody air raids on civilian areas, a monitor and activists said Monday.
On Sunday, an air strike on a school in the city's opposition-controlled east killed five children, three women teachers and a man.
The rebel education authority in Aleppo called on schools and teaching centres to suspend their classes until the end of the week, according to a statement distributed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
It said the decision was made "out of concern for the safety of students and teachers, because the criminal regime is targeting gatherings, schools, and institutions".
An opposition activist at the Aleppo Media Centre confirmed to AFP that all schools in rebel-held parts of the city were closed "until further notice".
"The 135 schools as well as the markets are all closed," said the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
On Sunday, bloodstains and debris marked the entrances of the bombed-out school, and broken desks and glass were strewn across classroom floors.
"People are more afraid than usual and there are dozens of families who have fled to refugee camps in Turkey or are internally displaced in Aleppo," the activist added.
According to him and the Britain-based Observatory, Syria's regime has intensified its aerial campaign against opposition-controlled areas in the city.
"For two months, the army didn't make a single real breakthrough on the battlefield," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
"So it's trying to compensate by intensifying bombardments of rebel areas," he said.
On Monday, regime aircraft struck a rebel warehouse storing baking flour and humanitarian assistance in east Aleppo, the Observatory said.
The strike destroyed several hundred tons of flour that were to have been distributed among bakeries in rebel-held parts of the city.
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