The Latest: French FM calls on Russia to reign in Assad

BEIRUT – The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

5:30 P.M.

France's foreign minister says Russia and Iran will be guilty of war crimes if they don't pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop escalating violence.

Jean-Marc Ayrault said an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting Sunday is a "moment of truth" for the U.N.

He said Assad's regime "has clearly made the choice of a military escalation. I am calling on Russia and Iran to pull themselves together and show responsibility, by putting a stop to this strategy. ... If not, Russia and Iran will be accomplices in war crimes committed in Aleppo."

The U.S, Britain, and France sought Sunday's meeting, as pro-government forces continued their intense bombardment of Aleppo. They are widely believed to be accompanied by Russian air strikes.

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3 p.m.

A monitoring group says Syrian rebels have retaken an area in Aleppo that fell to government forces the day before, extending a punishing stalemate in the contested northern city.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which maintains a network of local contacts, says rebels seized Handarat, a largely uninhabited Palestinian refugee camp, early Sunday.

The area is near Castello Road, a vital supply route to the city's besieged rebel-held areas. Government forces seized the Castello Road earlier this year, besieging rebel-held districts where some 250,000 people reside.

Yasser al-Yousef, a spokesman for the Nour el-Din al-Zinki rebel faction, says rebels seized Handarat late Saturday.

The Observatory says 213 civilians have been killed by airstrikes and shelling on rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo since a cease-fire expired Monday.