By Halit Suleyman

DAMASCUS

At least 20 civilians were killed and 40 others injured by Syrian regime airstrikes Saturday on the Qalamoun area in the northern countryside of Damascus, according to Syrian Civil Defense officials.

“Regime warplanes launched 45 airstrikes on the opposition-controlled city of Jayrud in Qalamoun area,” the officials told Anadolu Agency.

Yusuf al-Bustani, a member of a local coordination committee in Eastern Ghouta area, told Anadolu Agency that only 20 people were identified.

Al-Bustani said that the death toll is likely to rise as many of the injured are in a serious condition.

“Medical facilities in Jayrud are overwhelmed with the injured,” he said.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity and disproportionate force.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed -- and more than 10 million displaced -- throughout the war-battered country, according to the UN.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, an NGO, however, has put the death toll from the five-year conflict at as high as 470,000.

*Anadolu Agency correspondent Mahmoud Barakat contributed to this report.