At least 59 people, including five children, were killed during operations across Syria on Tuesday, allegedly by forces loyal to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, according to opposition activists.
Air and land operations involving heavy weaponry and barrel bombs killed 19 people in the suburbs of the capital, Damascus, 16 people in Aleppo, six each in Homs and Deiruz Zor, four each in Hama and Idlib, two in Daraa, and one each in Ar-Raqqah and Latakia, according to the London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights, which tracks civilian and opposition casualties.
According to the Syrian Local Coordination Committee, numerous houses were demolished or damaged as army helicopters dropped barrel bombs on areas under opposition control in Aleppo, Hama and Idlib.
Barrel bombs, which are filled with high-explosives, oil and shrapnel, are often dropped from Syrian army helicopters.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government's official news agency SANA claimed security forces "neutralized" a large number of armed groups during operations.
Syria has been gripped by almost constant fighting since the regime launched a violent crackdown in response to anti-government protests in March 2011, triggering a conflict, which has spiraled into a civil war.
The UN has stopped updating its death toll for the country because an official count had become too difficult to verify. At least 100,000 deaths were recorded in the last official count in July 2013.
www.aa.com.tr/en
