Regime raid kills 7 in Syrian capital

By Khalid Suleiman

DAMASCUS

Seven people were killed in a regime airstrike in Syrian capital of Damascus late Monday, according to an opposition activist.

Regime warplanes struck the Damascus suburb of Barza in violation of a ceasefire deal between the Assad regime and opposition forces, Owaid Awad told Anadolu Agency.

He said two children and two women were among those killed in the raid, which also left a number of people injured.

The violence came despite a ceasefire deal brokered by Turkey and Russia that went into effect throughout war-torn Syria in late December.

On Saturday, at least 17 people were killed and scores injured in regime shelling of eastern Damascus on Saturday.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime of Bashar al-Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-torn country, according to the UN, but the Syrian Center for Policy Research puts the death toll at more than 470,000.