23/12/2013 09:30
Airstrikes kill dozens in northern Syrian city of Aleppo
At least 44 people, including six children, were killed in airstrikes by Syrian government planes in the northern city of Aleppo, a pro-opposition watchdog said, according to the Voice of Russia.
The planes dropped barrels packed with explosives on rebel-held areas in the city, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Syrian aircraft bombarded residential areas of Aleppo on Sunday, killing dozens of people in the divided northern city with crude explosives-filled barrels in a tactic widely condemned as unlawful.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights singled out the barrel bombing of three opposition districts in the northern city as especially deadly, saying at least 44 people had been killed, including six children.
The Aleppo Media Centre network of citizen journalists also expressed concern about the bombing of the neighbourhood of Hanano, saying a bus had been struck, "leaving no survivors."
Other air raids targeted rebel-held areas across Aleppo, which has been split between rebels and regime forces since the summer of 2012, as well as two nearby villages, the Observatory said.