Russian airstrikes kill 10 civilians in NW Syria

By Halit Suleyman

ALEPPO, Syria

Ten civilians were killed and another 17 injured on Tuesday when Russian warplanes struck a town in Syria’s northern Aleppo province, according to local civil defense sources.

Russian jets targeted Aleppo’s opposition-held Atarib district, one civil defense source told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to fears of reprisal.

Several residential buildings and vehicles were also damaged during the airstrikes, the same source said.

Syria has been locked in a vicious 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, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to UN figures.

However, the Syrian Center for Policy Research, an NGO, has put the total death toll from conflict -- now in its sixth year -- at more than 470,000.

* Sibel Ugurlu contributed to the report from Ankara.