Hundreds of civilians have been killed in both Assad regime’s and Russian attacks across Syria in recent days, according to local activist groups.
At least 180 civilians were killed across Syria since Friday, including 22 children and 23 women, the Local Coordination Committees, a grassroots network of activists, said on Sunday.
More than 90 people were killed on Friday, while 83 had been recorded dead by Saturday night, with most of the deaths occuring in the Aleppo province.
“Even with the deadly standards of this war, these death tolls are staggering,” Al Jazeera’s Reza Sayah, reporting from Gaziantep on the Turkish side of the Syria-Turkey border, said.
Aleppo
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) released figures on Sunday detailing the killing of at least 201 civilians, including children and women, in Aleppo over the last 15 days.
More than 100 of the 327 were reportedly killed in shelling by Assad regime’s warplanes in the rebel-held areas of the city.
In the suburbs of the city, another 94 were killed by Syrian regime bombardment, according to the SOHR.
“The shelling on the city has intensified. The regime has been attacking the city’s main roads that people have been using to get around eastern Aleppo,” a journalist on Sunday.
“Yesterday, the regime used cluster bombs, which they have been using extensively recently, to attack a bus station in al-Firdous neighbourhood, whereby more than 50 civilians, including women and children, were attempting to leave the city. Most of them were killed.”
Darayya
Opposition activists in the town of Darayya on the suburbs of Damascus also accused Assad regime of dropping barrel bombs containing napalm – an incendiary weapon made up of both fuel and a gel substance.
According to opposition activists, “Assad regime forces and helicopters have dropped about 12 [barrel bombs] today and another 24 yesterday”, with one person killed and very few injured, an activist said on Sunday.
The napalm airstrikes were followed by barrel bombs attacks which claimed many civilians’ lives and injured tens amid sharp medical equipment shortage.
The substance’s use against civilian targets, or in areas densely populated with civilians, has been prohibited by the United Nations. The chemical is very flammable and difficult to remove from the skin.
Approximately 8,000 Syrian civilians are living in the rebel-held town of Daraya, which has been under siege by Assad regime forces since 2012.
Idlib
Assad and Russian jet fighters started Sunday morning new bombing rounds on multiple locations in Idlib and its countryside, activists reported.
Five airstrikes targeted the city of Idlib while Ariha and Saraqeb were each targeted with one airstrike.
The villages of Qalb Louzeh and al-Halazon were also hit with one air raid each.
More, the outskirts of Ma’r Shourin, east of Ma’aret al-Nouman, was hit by Russian jet fighters.
Exact accounts of the damage and whether there were any casualties are not clear as bombing continues.
Assad-Russian warplanes have been intensively flying in the airspace of Idlib since the early morning, according to activists.
