'17 civilians killed, 30 injured' in Aleppo airstrikes

By Khalid Suleiman

ALEPPO, Syria

At least 17 civilians were killed and 30 others were injured in airstrikes carried out by the Bashar al-Assad regime and Russian warplanes in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, a civil defense official said.

Civil defense official Hussein Misri said the raids targeted an opposition-held village, Anjara, in the countryside of western Aleppo.

Misri confirmed the casualty toll in the bombardment.

“A warplane belonging to the Russians targeted the settlement of Anjara, which controlled by the opposition, in the countryside of western Aleppo with a penetrating bomb,” he said.

More than 508 civilians have been killed and 1,871 others injured in regime attacks on eastern Aleppo since mid-November.

In the last 10 days, all hospitals and medical facilities stopped operating because of the attacks while schools were disrupted.

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

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.