DAMASCUS
Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad allegedly used heavy weapons in operations against the anti-government opposition in various cities on Thursday, killing 70 people including four children and seven women.
U.K.-based Syria National Human Rights Watchdog said in a statement that regime forces staged air attacks on opposition-controlled areas and killed 24 people in the suburbs of Damascus, 13 in Homs, 10 in Idlib, seven in Hama, five in each Deraa and Deru’z Zor, four in Aleppo, and two in Quneitra.
Regime forces allegedly used helicopters in opposition-controlled region Aleppo to drop barrel bombs, a type of non-precise explosive device, damaging and destroying buildings.
The Local Coordination Committees also said that regime forces staged artillery attacks on the Yarmouk, Douma, Eastern Guta, Barza, Jobar and Qabun regions of Damascus, and fighter jets of the regime forces staged bomb attacks on Darayya region of Damascus.
SANA, the Syrian official news agency, said the security forces neutralized armed groups during operations across the country.
More than 100,000 people have been killed during the three-year conflict, which has also internally displaced more than 6.5 million people, according to the UN. Over two million are now registered as refugees in neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq.
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