19 November 2016•Update: 19 November 2016
By Halit Suleyman
ALEPPO, Syria
At least 40 people were killed and scores injured Saturday in a new wave of regime and Russian airstrikes on the war-battered Aleppo city in northeastern Syria, according to a pro-opposition civil defense official.
Najib al-Ansari said Russian and regime warplanes carried out several raids on opposition-held areas in eastern Aleppo.
“Forty civilians were killed and 180 others injured in the attacks,” he told Anadolu Agency.
According to al-Ansari, civil defense teams were struggling to reach the bombed areas to search for survivors under the debris.
On Friday, around 40 people were killed in Russian bombardment of opposition-held areas in Aleppo.
Around 300,000 people live under a crippling siege in eastern Aleppo since September amid relentless airstrikes by regime forces and Russian allies.
On Friday, all hospitals in eastern Aleppo were forced to shut down as a result of the ongoing attacks by regime and Russian forces.
Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.
In September of last year, Russia began an extensive air campaign in Syria with the aim of propping up the embattled Assad regime and fighting what it describes as "terrorist groups".
