DAMASCUS, Syria
At least 78 people, including 15 children and five women, were killed in regime air raids across Syria on Monday as Syrian army helicopters dropped barrel bombs on opposition-controlled areas in Aleppo, the Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC) said in a statement.
In the attacks, 43 people were killed in Aleppo, 17 in Damascus suburbs, 11 in Homs, three in Daraa bringing the total number killed to around 78 including those killed in Idlib, Hama, Deir ez-Zor and al-Hasakah, according to information from Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).
More than 20 barrel bombs were also used during the raids, the local activists also said.
-Condemnation from U.S. on Syrian regime
The U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said that the U.S. strongly condemned the barrel bomb attacks on civilians by the Syrian regime on Monday.
Psaki emphasized that the U.S. is ready to undertake all political and diplomatic steps to prevent such attacks.
Activist, Mustafa Sultan from Aleppo, told an AA correspondent that army helicopters are bombing opposition-controlled areas every day at around 10am.
Dozens of homes have been destroyed in Monday's attacks. “Opposition controlled places are turned into wrecks,” Sultan added.
"Assad's forces have attacked the opposition-areas with 600 barrel bombs and have killed thousands of people in January alone,” he said. "The Damascus government is using various types of weapons against the opponents; Aleppo is like a ghost town now,” he added.
Sultan said that the Syrian army forces did not attack the ISIL military quarters in Raqqa, and instead aimed for the civilian settlements.
More than 500,000 people have been forced to flee Aleppo to safe areas near the Turkish border.
Sultan added that the Islamic Front is also fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in north Aleppo.
“If ISIL had not have opened the north front, Aleppo would be under the control of the opposition. ISIL cooperates with the Damascus government in the north and whenever the Assad regime is stuck in a difficult situation, ISIL helps them,” the activist told the AA correspondent.
