ALEPPO – Air strikes on rebel-held neighbourhoods in Syria’s second city Aleppo on Friday killed at least 14 civilians and wounded more than a dozen others, the local civil defence told AFP.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime warplanes carried out the air strikes and gave a toll of 10 dead.
An AFP correspondent in the opposition-held eastern part said several neighbourhoods were targeted and that the wail of ambulances could be heard throughout the morning.
A fragile ceasefire in Syria is in grave peril without urgent action, the UN top envoy to the war-ravaged country warned Friday, as violence surged on the ground.
In Bustan al-Qasr, one of the most heavily-populated neighbourhoods, a strike hit a five-storey apartment building, shearing off part of an entire floor.
Civil defence volunteers were climbing into the building to search for families trapped in the rubble, according to the AFP journalist.
Seven civilians were killed and 10 wounded there, a civil defence member said.
Two other people were killed and eight wounded in Al-Mashad district, the source said.
And in the opposition-held Salhin neighbourhood, a strike killed five civilians, he added.
The Britain-based Observatory said the air strikes targeted Bustan al-Qasr and other Aleppo neighbourhoods, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens more.
“The number of martyrs is expected to rise because many of those wounded are in critical condition,” said the monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its reports.
Syria truce ’in great trouble’
The truce “is still in effect, but it is in great trouble if we don’t act quickly,” Staffan de Mistura told reporters, adding that peace talks in Geneva would continue through Wednesday. The truce “is still in effect, but it is in great trouble if we don’t act quickly,” Staffan de Mistura told reporters, adding that peace talks in Geneva would continue through Wednesday.
Once Syria’s commercial hub, Aleppo has been divided between rebel control in the east and government forces in the west since 2012.
Nearly all warring parties in Syria — the regime, rebels, jihadists, and Kurds — have carved out zones of control in war-torn Aleppo province.
A ceasefire took effect in Syria at the end of February but the country has been rocked by fighting in recent weeks, particularly around Aleppo.
Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests, but has since spiralled into a multi-front war that has left more than 270,000 people dead.
Source: AFP, 22 April 2016
