DAMASCUS, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Violent incidents continued to rock Syria on Thursday, as the Christian minority in the war-torn country is observing the Christmas holiday with wishes for a better tomorrow.
Clashes between various jihadist groups, mainly the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, and the Syrian troops continued in the northern countryside of Syria's northern province of Aleppo, amid ongoing shelling by both conflicting parties against each other, said the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on ground.
It said 21 people were killed, including children, and tens of others injured when a Syrian air strike struck the city of al-Bab and the nearby town of Qabasin in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo. The two areas have for long fallen to the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.
The Syrian troops have been engaged in violent battles against the extremist groups in Aleppo as part of the government troops' tactic to lay a full siege on the rebel-held areas inside the city of Aleppo.
International efforts have recently focused on Aleppo due to its commercial and historic significance. The UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, recently proposed a plan for "freezing" the battles in Aleppo in a bid to alleviate the suffering of the Syrians there and to spare that key province from further destruction.
The Syrian government said the plan was "worth studying," but demanded further details about the proposal.
Meanwhile, the Observatory said the Syrian air force on Thursday carried out over 20 air strikes against rebel-held positions in the Eastern al-Ghouta, a sprawling area of many agriculture towns in the astern countryside of the capital Damascus.
The strikes targeted the towns of Deir al-Asafir and its outskirts, as well as the towns of Dwair, Rakabiyeh, Harasta and Douma, leaving undisclosed number of causalities.
In the central province of Homs, Syrian troops pounded rebel positions in towns of Houleh, Housh Hajjo and parts of the al-Rastan city, injuring 10 kids and two grownups, according to the Observatory.
Syrian warplanes also raided rebel-held areas in the al-Waer district in Homs, leaving unknown losses.
The air force also dropped crude barrel bombs on the rebel-held towns of Hbait, Saraqeb and parts of al-Amiriyeh in Idlib, leaving one child killed and many others wounded, according to the Observatory.
Also on Thursday, the Kurdish militants of the People's Protection Units (YPG) advanced against IS militants in the northern city of Ayn al-Arab, otherwise known as Kobane, killing 14 of the terror group's fighters, said the Observatory.
The YPG also killed over 30 IS fighters in the countryside of the predominantly Kurdish city of al-Qamishli in northern Syria.
The battles between the IS and the YPG and its affiliated Kurdish militants have been raging since last September, when IS fighters unleashed a wide-scale offensive aiming to control the strategic city of Ayn al-Arab on the borders with Turkey.
However, the YPG's ferocious defense and strikes of the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition have so far succeeded in hindering the IS' takeover of the city. The Iraqi Peshmerga also joined the battle with their fellow Kurds in Ayn al-Arab, streaming in through Turkey.
The Observatory said the strikes of the U.S.-led coalition had killed over 1,000 IS fighters since the battle began in September. It added that 52 Syrian civilians, including eights kids and five women, were also killed by the months-long U.S.-led strikes.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Christian minority, which takes up to 10 percent in the country's Sunni-majority population, observed the Christmas holiday in the predominantly Christian districts of Bab Touma and Qassa in the eastern part of the capital.
Unlike previous years of the crisis when the celebrations were confined to prayers at churches due to the situation, the streets of Bab Touma and Qassa this year were bedecked with Christmas decorations. White and green lights on Christmas trees and balconies, as well as people dressed in Santa Claus costumes, lend the cool nights of December a long-missed festive mood.
People, most notably veiled Muslim women, attended churches in that part of the capital to listen to Christmas corals and ballads and to show solidarity and unity with their fellow citizens, especially with the growing presence of radicalism in the country.
Syria's Christians have felt the pain of the protracted crisis, as their population has been subject to attacks by radical rebels.
Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East Mar Ignatius Aphram II stressed the role of an inter-Syrian dialogue to have Syrians of different backgrounds talk about the future of their country and means of reconstruction, calling upon "the opposition" to work for Syria.
The patriarch affirmed in an interview with Syria's national TV that what Syria has been going through in the past four years is an outcome of "alien" ideologies that some sides tried to instill among the Syrian community, in reference to the rampant terrorism that has plagued the country as a result of the presence of extremist groups like the IS and the Nusra Front.
The patriarch urged western governments to stop imposing their will on the Syrian people.
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