A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C-R) arriving along with Grand Mufti Ahmed Hassun (C-L) a meeting with a group of various religious clerics from across Syria.
Beirut:
An air strike on a market killed at least 27 people, including three children, in a village of the northern Syrian province of Aleppo Thursday, a monitoring group said.
The raid comes amid a massive aerial offensive on rebel-held areas across the province and Aleppo city that began in mid-December.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the campaign has killed hundreds, mostly civilians, and forced thousands of families to flee their homes.
"The number of people killed in an air strike this morning on the market area of Atareb village has risen to 27, including two women and three children," said the Observatory, updating its toll from 25.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that all the dead were civilians.
Activists distributed video footage showing scenes of chaos, with bodies lying among mounds of grey rubble in what was clearly a market.
The amateur footage shows a woman in a white headscarf screaming as she leaned over the body of a loved one.
Another image showed a man attending to a boy whose leg had been ripped off. It was unclear whether the child was alive or dead.
"The area that was struck today is a market area, that's why there were so many civilians killed," said Aleppo-based activist Abu Omar.
"The regime is hitting back against the civilians who support the revolt" against President Bashar al-Assad, he added.
Swathes of Aleppo city and province have been out of army control since 2012.
Human Rights Watch has accused Syria's regime of "wreaking disaster" with its air strikes on the area.
Elsewhere, the army pounded Mleiha east of Damascus as rebels and their jihadist Al-Nusra Front allies were engaged in fierce fighting with troops backed by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah and other paramilitary groups, said the Observatory.
Mleiha has been under sustained bombardment since April 3. It is located in the strategic Eastern Ghouta area east of Damascus, swathes of which are rebel held and besieged by the army.
In southern Damascus, the UN was allowed to distribute 300 parcels of food aid in besieged Yarmuk, after a 15-day lull, said UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness.
More than 100 people have died in the past year from food and medical shortages in Yarmuk, a Palestinian refugee camp now home to some 18,000 people.
The conflict, which broke out in March 2011 after the regime unleashed a massive crackdown on a protest movement demanding political change, is estimated to have killed more than 150,000 people.
The violence has forced nearly half of Syria's population to flee their homes.
The raid comes amid a massive aerial offensive on rebel-held areas across the province and Aleppo city that began in mid-December.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the campaign has killed hundreds, mostly civilians, and forced thousands of families to flee their homes.
"The number of people killed in an air strike this morning on the market area of Atareb village has risen to 27, including two women and three children," said the Observatory, updating its toll from 25.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that all the dead were civilians.
Activists distributed video footage showing scenes of chaos, with bodies lying among mounds of grey rubble in what was clearly a market.
The amateur footage shows a woman in a white headscarf screaming as she leaned over the body of a loved one.
Another image showed a man attending to a boy whose leg had been ripped off. It was unclear whether the child was alive or dead.
"The area that was struck today is a market area, that's why there were so many civilians killed," said Aleppo-based activist Abu Omar.
"The regime is hitting back against the civilians who support the revolt" against President Bashar al-Assad, he added.
Swathes of Aleppo city and province have been out of army control since 2012.
Human Rights Watch has accused Syria's regime of "wreaking disaster" with its air strikes on the area.
Elsewhere, the army pounded Mleiha east of Damascus as rebels and their jihadist Al-Nusra Front allies were engaged in fierce fighting with troops backed by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah and other paramilitary groups, said the Observatory.
Mleiha has been under sustained bombardment since April 3. It is located in the strategic Eastern Ghouta area east of Damascus, swathes of which are rebel held and besieged by the army.
In southern Damascus, the UN was allowed to distribute 300 parcels of food aid in besieged Yarmuk, after a 15-day lull, said UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness.
More than 100 people have died in the past year from food and medical shortages in Yarmuk, a Palestinian refugee camp now home to some 18,000 people.
The conflict, which broke out in March 2011 after the regime unleashed a massive crackdown on a protest movement demanding political change, is estimated to have killed more than 150,000 people.
The violence has forced nearly half of Syria's population to flee their homes.
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