A barrage of air strikes and shelling on Syria's second city Aleppo and a town to its west have killed 25 civilians, emergency workers and a monitoring group said Tuesday.

The attacks are the latest in a surge of violence in and around the city that has severely tested a February 27 ceasefire.

At least two male civilians died in rebel rocket fire on government-controlled areas in the west of the city on Tuesday afternoon, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.  

In the rebel-held eastern parts, the air strikes and shelling came down "like rain", one resident told AFP.