PHOTO: Body of a victim of bombing in Douma near Damascus on Thursday (Abo Doumany/Reuters)


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At least 105 people were killed in Syria on Thursday amid intense Russian and regime bombing, including of civilian sites such as hospitals.

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria documented the deaths, including 24 children and six women. Most of them were in the northwest, including 48 in Aleppo Province and 26 in Idlib Province.

Activists spoke of 20 air raids “within minutes”. The attacks included targeting of pro-opposition neighborhoods in Aleppo city with airstrikes and helicopter-dropped barrel bombs, and damaging of three hospitals.

Despite periodic declarations of “ceasefires”, both Russia and the Assad regime have stepped up air attacks in northwest Syria since April. Meanwhile, the Syrian military and allied foreign militias, enabled by the strikes, have advanced north of Aleppo city — effectively cutting off the last route into opposition-held districts — but struggled to contain rebel counter-attacks to the west and south.


Local Office: 183 Civilians Killed by Siege of Madaya

More than 180 civilians have been killed by the year-long regime siege of Madaya, northwest of Damascus, according to the local Statistics Office.

The office cited deaths from starvation, illness, mines, and sniper attacks.

Victims included 32 children and four newborns, and 30 pregnancies failed to carry to term because of malnutrition.

The Medical Committee in Madaya called on all international organizations to intervene immediately. It said that aid, from a rare delivery in May, is about to run out.

The Syrian military and Hezbollah imposed the siege last July amid an offensive against the nearby town of Zabadani. Despite a ceasefire after almost three months, the pro-Assad forces maintained the blockade on Madaya.

The Assad regime only relented and allowed an aid convoy in January after international pressure because of the deaths from starvation.