At least 78 people were killed and 200 others wounded in regime air raids on rebel districts of the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, the Syrian Revolution Commission said.
The Aleppo Media Centre (AMC), an activist network on the ground, reported several air attacks on rebel-held areas of the city.
Once Syria’s commercial capital, Aleppo has suffered massive destruction since a rebel offensive in July last year.
The city is now divided into pro- and anti-regime areas, and according to the AMC, the regime uses its air force near daily to target rebel districts.
An AMC activist in the city, Mohammed al-Khatieb, said in a message posted on Facebook that the raids were “unprecedented.”
“Everyone is looking up at the skies and watching the planes. But there’s nothing to be done,” he said.
Barrel bombs were dropped on some 10 neighbourhoods of the city, Khatieb later told AFP, adding: “Many people have been killed.”
The bombings came a day after the Syrian Red Crescent on Saturday delivered food and medicine to the Aleppo central prison, which has been under rebel siege for eight months.
Earlier this week the government announced an amnesty for scores of prisoners held on criminal charges due for humanitarian reasons.
Fifteen prisoners have already been released, escorted out of the jail by volunteers, according to the Observatory while 341 other detainees are awaiting to be freed.
Assad warplanes struck also Dumeir city, east Damascus on Sunday, killing at least 15 people, including women and children, in a series of strikes with explosive barrels hit Dumeir, revolution local coordination said.
The strikes hit north neighborhood of the city where all of the victims, which included tens of wounded, were civilians.
The city coordination posted footage on YouTube showing the aftermath of the airstrike. Dozens of people were clambering over the wreckage of buildings. Another YouTube posting showed a plume of smoke from an apparent explosion rising into the air.
The rebel -held city, 46 km (30 miles) east Damascus is situated next to the most powerful military bases of Assad army including Dumeir Military Airport and base for developed missiles batteries besides ammunition depots.
Most of the country’s Alawites — whose religion is an offshoot of Shiite Islam — support Assad, and many members of other minority groups fear a Sunni Islamist victory in the Syrian conflict.
More than 126,000 people have been killed in Syria since March 2011, and millions more have fled their homes. with AFP
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