Warplanes hit Aleppo in heaviest attack in months, defy U.S.

By Tom Perry and Ellen Francis BEIRUT (Reuters) - Warplanes mounted the heaviest air strikes in months against rebel-held districts of the city of Aleppo overnight, as Russia and the Syrian government spurned a U.S. plea to halt flights, burying any hope for the revival of a doomed ceasefire. Hamza al-Khatib, the director of a hospital in the rebel-held east, told Reuters the death toll was 45. "It's as if the planes are trying to compensate for all the days they didn't drop bombs" during the ce