A young girl has been pulled alive from the rubble of a building destroyed in air strikes in Aleppo as the devastated Syrian city comes under attack for a second day.
Footage showed volunteers using their bare hands to scrape away masonry and debris as the girl cried intermittently, appearing to fade in and out of consciousness.
At first only her hair, tied up in a pink scrunchie, and dust-covered jumper were visible but the rest of her small body was slowly revealed.
After lengthy efforts to free her, a rescue worker carried the girl in his arms to an ambulance, which took her for treatment.
Her condition was unknown and it was unclear if other members of the family had survived the strike in the Bab al-Nairab area.
The glimmer of hope came as rebel-held areas of Aleppo were targeted with a second day of bombardment following the end of a week-long ceasefire between Bashar al-Assad’s forces and opposition groups.
A bombing campaign by the Syrian government and its Russian allies was intensifying on Friday, with a military official in Damascus saying it would precede a ground offensive, feared to have been prepared during the temporary truce.
Government troops were advancing on Friday, seizing several buildings on the divide between east and west Aleppo in al-Amiriah district, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Centres used by the Nobel prize-nominated Syrian Civil Defence group, known as the White Helmets, were among the buildings hit by strikes on Friday morning.
Residents and activists say the latest round of bombing, which started on Wednesday night, has been unprecedented in its intensity, targeting residential areas and infrastructure.
The use of cluster munitions and incendiary weapons have been reported, with videos showing burning buildings overnight.
Ibrahim Alhaj, a member of the White Helmets, said: “It is really critical. (Syrian forces) have directly targeted civil defence centres.
"I have not seen in my life such bombardment. It is very, very intense."
The Observatory has reported at least seven civilian deaths since Thursday evening, including three children.
In Bab al-Nairab, where the little girl was rescued, a drinking water plant was damaged, with opposing sides blaming each other for the strike.
President Assad has repeatedly denied his forces and allies are attacking civilians trapped in rebel-held areas of Aleppo, claiming they are targeting only “terrorist” groups.
The former al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, previously known as Jabhat al-Nusra, is leading an Islamist offensive outside the divided city but factions inside besieged areas are regarded as moderate opposition.
After a tense two-and-a-half hour meeting in New York on Thursday night, Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said they would meet again on Friday in a bid to find a way forward.
Despite a week of diplomatic talks and attempts to seek consensus, renewed fighting and bombardment across Syria is damaging hopes for meaningful progress to end the country’s five-year civil war.
Additional reporting by AP
