At least 545 people, including 84 children and 35 women, have been killed and hundreds more injured in the escalating bombing campaign by the Assad regime and Russian air forces on Syria’s towns and cities since Tuesday.
According to figures compiled by the Syrian Coalition’s media office, Aleppo bore the brunt of the ferocious airstrikes and artillery bombardment, with 374 people recorded killed in the city and countryside during the past week.
The Russian and Assad regime forces on Tuesday resumed aerial and artillery bombardment on rebel-held areas across Syria following a brief pause, targeting mainly civilian areas and vital civilian infrastructure in Aleppo, Idlib, Homs and eastern Ghouta.
The directorate of health in Aleppo province on Saturday announced the suspension of work in all hospitals in the city’s besieged neighborhoods after being directly hit by airstrikes. The directorate said in a statement that it was no longer able to offer medical care to around 300,000 civilians trapped in the eastern parts of the city.
Activists said that 67 people were killed and dozens more injured in airstrikes on Aleppo and its countryside on Sunday, adding that the airstrikes were concentrated on the neighborhoods of Sakhour, Sha’ar, Jabal Badro, Ard Alhamra, Seif Addawla, and Karm Aljabal in the besieged eastern parts of the city. Two more civilians were killed in a rocket attack by regime forces on the town of Bayanoun north of Aleppo.
Civil defense corps announced that two of its centers in the neighborhood of Hanano and the town of Orim Alqubra in rural Aleppo were put out of service after being hit by the Russian and Assad regime warplanes on Sunday.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Saturday said that the only specialized pediatric hospital in besieged eastern Aleppo has come under attack for the second time since airstrikes resumed on 15 November. It pointed out that at least 130 medical facilities have been targeted by airstrikes and barrel bombs since the beginning of 2016.
Meanwhile, the directorate of education in Idlib province on Monday announced the closure of all schools in the province until the end of the week due to the relentless bombing campaign.
Activists in rural Idlib said that five people were killed and dozens more injured in multiple Russian airstrikes on the town of Idlib on Sunday.
In rural Homs, meanwhile, activists said that a UN aid convoy was not able to enter the town of Rastan due to artillery shelling by regime forces on Sunday. Regime forces also pounded the towns of Ghanto, Talbeesah, Alsi’en, and Zafarana with heavy artillery, causing many civilian casualties. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Office)
