Ekip
27 September 2016•Update: 27 September 2016
By Khaled Suleiman
ALEPPO, Syria
At least 22 civilians were killed and another 39 injured on Tuesday when Russian warplanes struck Aleppo city’s opposition-held districts with vacuum bombs, according to a local civil defense source.
Mohammed Novlo, a pro-opposition civil defense official based in Aleppo, told Anadolu Agency that warplanes had targeted the Al-Mashhad and Al-Shear districts.
Novlo added six people were killed in Al-Mashhad and 16 others in Al-Shear.
The strikes damaged a number of buildings and vehicles in the area, Novlo said, adding that families under wreckage are still waiting to be rescued.
"Every day, we take out children’s bodies from debris. This damages our mentality...Unfortunately, children, women and elders pay for the war," Novlo said.
Since Sept. 19, when the Syrian regime announced the end of a week-long truce sponsored by Washington and Moscow, regime and Russian warplanes have pounded opposition-held parts of Aleppo.
Hundreds of local civilians have reportedly been killed or injured in the attacks, which remain ongoing.
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.
The Syrian Center for Policy Research, a Beirut-based NGO, has put the total death toll from the five-year conflict at more than 470,000.
