Syrians run for cover during an airstrike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Bustan al-Qasr in Aleppo.

Syrians run for cover during an airstrike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Bustan al-Qasr in Aleppo. Photo: Karem Al-Masri

Beirut: Radical jihadists in Syria have shot dead a 102-year-old man and either shot or burned alive other members of his family.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who shot the man as he slept, also killed the man's son, his grandson, his great-granddaughter and her mother, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

All the victims were Alawites, members of the same offshoot of Shi'ite Islam as Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Residents look for belongings under rubble after what activists said was shelling from forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Aleppo.

Residents look for belongings under rubble after what activists said was shelling from forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Aleppo. Photo: Hamid Khatib

Rooted in al-Qaeda in Iraq, ISIL is the most extremist group fighting in Syria's war. Initially welcomed by rebels seeking Dr Assad's overthrow, their systematic abuses and quest for hegemony turned the rest of the opposition against them.

ISIL killed the family while attacking Zanuba village in Hama, said the Observatory.

"Some members of the family were burned alive, others killed in their sleep," it added.

Elsewhere, the loyalist air force launched fresh strikes against rebel areas of Aleppo, dropping more highly destructive barrel bombs, said the Observatory.

Several people were injured in Sunday's attack, and a house was burnt down.

The regime's air offensive on Aleppo's rebel areas has killed some 2000 people so far this year, and caused thousands of families to flee the city. Rights groups have blasted the regime's use of barrel bombs as indiscriminate and unlawful.

Rebels meanwhile launched fresh mortar attacks on regime-held areas of divided Aleppo, killing at least four people, including a child.

More than 162,000 people have been killed in Syria's war, and nearly half the population forced to flee their homes.

AAP