Syria: 21 civilians killed in airstrikes in northwest

By Khaled Suleiman, Halit Suleyman, and Ayse Aktas

ALEPPO, Syria

Separate airstrikes in Syria Friday killed at least 21 people and injured scores of others, local civil defense sources told Anadolu Agency.

Airstrikes on a hospital in the northwestern Aleppo province left 10 people dead and 16 others injured.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns, the sources said that Russia and Syrian regime jets struck a residential area in northern Aleppo, killing 10, including women and children.

The attack also destroyed a number of houses and workplaces.

Also in the northwest, in the opposition-held countryside of the Idlib province, Syrian regime airstrikes killed least 11 civilians and injured 20 others, some seriously.

The sources added that the shelling targeted the city of Saraqib in the eastern part of the province, and Talaadah, including the northern countryside, as well as Sarmada, near the Turkish border.

The sources, who spoke to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking with the media, said that the shelling caused great destruction, adding that civil defense teams are still working to clear rubble to reach possible survivors.

Syrian regime and Russian planes intensified targeting opposition-held areas in northern Syria last week after opposition forces managed to break the siege on the city of Aleppo, which had lasted for more than a month.

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.

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 the UN.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.