Aleppo Airstrikes Killed 10 children; Russia Announces Temporary Halt
In Aleppo, Syria's largest city, another 14 family members -- including two infants and eight other children -- were killed on Monday due to airstrikes, according to the activist group Aleppo Media Center. The news came hours after at least 45 people were killed in other two neighborhoods.
Hundreds of civilians have died in the midst of the Syrian army's renewed offensive on rebel-controlled parts of the city. U.N. humanitarian officials have pleaded with combatants to observe weekly 48-hour cease-fires to allow humanitarian relief into the city's besieged eastern districts. However, after Moscow vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution to stop the bombing in Aleppo and allow access for humanitarian aid, the death toll continued to increase.
Western powers accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his supporters of war crimes. From CNN's accumulated reports, At least 23 people were killed in an airstrike that also wounded dozens in the village of Oweijel, just west of Aleppo, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observator for Human Rights. Another monitoring group, the Local Coordination Committees, said the air raid was carried out by Russian warplanes and put the death toll at 30.
According to report obtained by Telegraph UK, more than a dozen people were also killed in the Marjeh neighborhood in eastern Aleppo. The Aleppo Media Center, an activist collective, said those killed included 11 people with the same family name of Qabs ranging from a month-and-a-half-old baby girl to a 25-year-old man.
Russia has helped prolong the Syrian regime's airstrikes on rebel-held parts of Aleppo. Gen. Sergey Rudskoy announced airstrikes will stop for eight hours Thursday, starting at 8 a.m. The two militaries will observe a "humanitarian pause" between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Oct. 20 to allow civilians and militants safe passage out of the city. But there was no assurance that bloodshed would not resume after that eight-hour break. Due to the crisis, both the United States and United Kingdom have contemplated potential economic sanctions against Syria and Russia, as reported by CNN.
