syrian rebels
© Fadi Al-Halabi / AFP
The human rights NGO Amnesty International has raised the alarm of civilians being killed in Syria's western Aleppo by armed opposition groups. Having called the attacks on government-controlled areas "unlawful," the group said that weapons banned by international law had also been used.

"The goal of breaking the siege on eastern Aleppo does not give armed opposition groups a license to flout the rules of international humanitarian law by bombarding civilian neighborhoods in government-held areas without distinction," Deputy Director of Campaigns at Amnesty International's Beirut regional office, Samah Hadid, said.

In a statement published on Monday, the organization accused armed opposition groups of "a shocking disregard for civilian lives." The latest offensive on western Aleppo launched on October 28 saw "indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas," the group said, adding that dozens of innocent people, including children, were killed in the areas, controlled by the Syrian government.

Citing video-recorded evidence from Aleppo, Amnesty said the opposition groups "have used imprecise explosive weapons including mortars and Katyusha rockets" in densely populated civilian areas - an act that "flagrantly violates international humanitarian law."

The organization also accused the armed Syrian opposition of "a war crime," citing allegations that an attack with the use of "toxic gas" was launched on western Aleppo on Sunday. According to the Syrian state news agency SANA, dozens were injured in the chemical weapons attack.