Beirut: Syrian regime forces on Friday used fighter jets and helicopter gunships to pound the city and province of Aleppo, where fierce clashes raged around a military airport, monitors said.

Fighter jets bombarded the rebel-held towns of Al Bab and Marea near Aleppo city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that army forces and rebels battled around Minnigh military airport.

Rebels have staged multiple attacks on military airports in past weeks, focusing on the eastern province of Deir Al Zor, Idlib in the northwest and Aleppo, the key battleground province of northern Syria.

As the army has increasingly employed fighter jets and helicopters in its attacks, the rebel Free Syrian Army has made military airports a strategic target, an FSA spokesman said on Thursday.

Despite shelling by regime forces, as seen in videos posted online, residents of Marea, Aleppo city and towns across the northern province came out for anti-regime demonstrations after the prayers, activists said.

The demonstrations were held under the slogan “Idlib: Cemetery of the planes and symbol of victory.”

Demonstrations were also reported in the provinces of Damascus, Idlib, Daraa in the south and Hama in central Syria where an unknown number of protesters were killed as regime forces opened fire in Hama city, the Observatory said.

Near the capital, at least 15 soldiers were killed or wounded in an attack on their vehicle in the restive town of Douma, where clashes broke out near the municipal building, the Observatory said.

Also in Douma, northeast of Damascus, two civilians were killed as gunfire and army shelling broke out before dawn, while two others, including a woman, were killed in nearby Harasta.

In Damascus itself, three large explosions were heard in the late morning, according to a reporter. The Observatory said that security forces swept its southern districts of Midan and Nahr Aisha.

At least 16 people were killed on Friday, according to the Observatory, with the highest toll in Daraa province where eight civilians, including three children, were killed in air strikes on the town of Bosra Al Sham.

Meanwhile, Hollywood star Angelina Jolie said she was concerned about the plight of Syrian refugees fleeing the unrest in their conflict-torn country with no end in sight to the violence.

“With the violence in the conflict showing no signs of easing up and the numbers (of refugees) growing it is a very large concern for all of us,” Jolie, a UN special envoy, told reporters in Ankara.

“I share everyone’s concern about the winter approaching,” she added, calling for help to make sure that “nobody freezes to death in this very very frightened time”.

Accompanied by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, Jolie held talks with Turkish officials in Ankara including President Abdullah Gul, a day after visiting refugee camps along the border.

The Oscar-winning actress listened to the accounts of refugees in the camps who have fled Syria, where a brutal conflict that began as a peaceful uprising against the Damascus regime has now killed around 27,000 people, according to activists.

“No one wants to live as a refugee. No one wants to live in a camp,” Jolie said in Ankara.

“All of these people lost their homes and they fled extreme violence, they lost their families. They are very very emotional.”

She said Syrian refugees still feel “very alone and in many ways abandoned” despite discussions and news being reported on their situation.

“They are of course also very traumatised and the Turkish government spoke about doing much to assist them and work now with psychological assistance. This is also very important.”