At least 82 people were killed during air and ground operations carried out across Syria on Friday by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad's regime, opposition activists said.
Assad forces killed 37 people in Aleppo, 25 in the suburbs of Damascus, 5 in Hama, 8 in Daraa, 3 each in Idlib and Homs, and one in Deir-ez Zor, according to London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights which tracks civilian and dissident casualties.
Another activist group, the Syrian Revolution General Commission claimed that hundreds of people were affected by barrel bombs dropped from a regime helicopter in the opposition controlled areas in Aleppo.
The Local Coordination Committees of Syria - a network of local opposition groups – confirmed that Syrian army helicopters destroyed buildings when they jettisoned barrel bombs in several opposition-held suburbs in Aleppo, with no reports of casualties.
Syria has seen heavy bloodshed since Assad's regime responded to anti-government protests in March 2011 with a violent crackdown, fighting which has spiraled into a civil war.
Meanwhile, Syrian security forces "neutralized" a large number of armed groups during operations in Aleppo, Idlib, Homs and Daraa, said Syria’s state-run SANA news agency.
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 U.N.
Nearly two and a half million people are registered as refugees in neighboring countries, including Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq.
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