BEIRUT (AP) — Fierce fighting around Syria’s contested northern province of Aleppo killed at least 21 rebels today as rockets slammed into a governmentheld district in the provincial capital, killing nine people.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that along with the 21 rebels, at least 30 soldiers were killed or wounded in today’s clashes.

President Bashar Assad’s forces, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah militants and progovernment militias, have been trying to wrest as much territory in Aleppo from the opposition ahead of the June 3 presidential elections.

Over the past year, Assad’s forces have been taking back rebel-held areas throughout Syria with a mix of crippling blockades, deals with rebels and relentless pounding of opposition-held areas. Presenting himself as a defender of united and religiously mixed Syria, Assad has pushed for the June 3 vote to seek a third sevenyear term amid fierce fighting.

Despite two other candidates on the ballot, Assad is widely expected to win the vote, which opposition activists and Western countries have condemned as a sham. The vote is expected to be held only in government controlled territory.

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