SYRIAN troops backed by Palestinian militia continued their renewed push to take the Handarat refugee camp north of Aleppo city yesterday.

The army and the al-Quds Brigade — volunteers from the Palestinian refugees displaced from the suburb by rebels early in the conflict — had been battling militants from the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army since Tuesday.

Clashes intensified after Syrian and Russian aircraft hit insurgent positions in the morning, also reportedly blitzing the Castello Road, the only supply route to the rebel-occupied east of the city.