A new round of Syrian government air raids on rebel-held areas of the northern city of Aleppo killed at least 15 people today, including three children, activists said.
The strikes extended the furious aerial assault by President Bashar Assad's warplanes and helicopters on the embattled city into its tenth day. Activists say more than 360 people were killed in the first nine days of the campaign, which began December 15.
Today's airstrikes hit the rebel-held Sukkari neighbourhood of Aleppo, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, which said at least 15 were killed.
Another activist group, the Aleppo Media Centre, said at least 33 people were killed and 150 were wounded. Disparate death tolls are common in the chaotic aftermath of such attacks.
The Aleppo Media Centre said the strikes were carried out by jets and helicopters, and hit at least three sites, causing extensive damage, toppling apartment buildings and setting houses and cars ablaze.
The soaring death toll and massive damage caused by the aerial campaign prompted the US and Britain yesterday to both condemn the assault on Aleppo.
The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, also threatened yesterday that if the bombing campaign against Aleppo continues, it will not take part in UN-sponsored peace talks planned for January 22 in Switzerland.
The US and Russian-brokered talks aim to find a political solution to Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 120,000 people since it began in March 2011.
