Local residents were refusing to leave their homes in the hope that the army would move the militants away.
In December 2019, two civilians were killed and another two were injured in shelling in the Minyan area in Aleppo.
Syria has faced a devastating civil conflict since 2011, with government forces fighting a broad array of militants and terrorists, including al-Qaeda* and Daesh*. The conflict has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the collapse of Syria's economy, and to the internal and foreign displacement of millions of Syrians. With the majority of the country cleared of terrorists by late 2017, the government began the reconstruction effort.
*Al-Qaeda, *Daesh (ISIS, ISIL, IS, Islamic State) are terrorist groups banned in Russia and many other countries.