Toll from barrel bomb raids on Syria\\\'s Aleppo hits 85

DAMASCUS, Feb 2 (AFP): The death toll from regime airstrikes on Syria's Aleppo has risen to 85, a monitoring group said Sunday, as the conflict grinds on after 10 days of inconclusive peace talks.

The latest fighting came as a suicide car bomb in a Hezbollah stronghold across the border in Lebanon killed four people Saturday, stoking fears of further regional spillover of the conflict.

Helicopters hit rebel-held areas of Aleppo on Saturday with barrels packed with explosives, a controversial tactic widely condemned by rights groups as indiscriminate.

"At least 85 people were killed, including 65 civilians, 10 of whom were children," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Attacks targeted several areas of the city, with 34 of the dead in the Tareq al-Bab area alone.

Aleppo has been divided between regime and rebel-held areas since opposition fighters launched a massive offensive in the city in mid-2012.

Fierce fighting between the two sides has left swathes of the historic city in ruins.

The Observatory said 10 of those killed on Saturday were jihadists from the Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, who were in their headquarters when it was hit. Another 10 bodies could not be identified.