An airstrike by the Syrian government has killed at least 71 people — most of them civilians — according to Syrian activists.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said military helicopters dropped the barrel bombs on the rebel-held Shaar neighborhood of the city of Aleppo and on a market in the town of al-Bab, which is held by Islamic State militants.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly denied using barrel bombs, which are chemical weapons packed with explosives and scrap metal.
Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of British-based SOHR, said 12 people were killed in Shaar, including eight members of a single family. The other 59 civilians, all male, were killed at a market in al-Bab.
According to state news agency SANA, the armed forces were targeting Islamic State militants in the area and hit “terrorist organizations” — not necessarily reporting on the specific airstrikes.
Since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, at least 220,000 people have been killed.
(h/t Voice of America)
