Six Children Among 19 Killed in Syrian Strikes on Aleppo

Attacks Targeted Rebel-Held Neighborhoods in Eastern Part of City

Syrian military attacks against eastern neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo have killed at least 19 people, including six children. The attacks included both rocket strikes and airstrikes against rebel-held neighborhoods.

Aleppo has been divided between government-held western districts and rebel-held eastern districts in recent months, with intense tit-for-tat artillery and airstrikes in the area repeatedly picking up, killing large numbers of civilians but doing little to nothing to change the situation on the ground.

The rebels in the area are mostly al-Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra, though it has largely been irrelevant, as the strikes against their districts almost never manage to kill any combatants, but instead just knock down random buildings in residential neighborhoods.

Aleppo had quieted down over the past couple weeks, but today’s strikes suggest it may be about to pick up again, with Nusra also holding area around the city’s outskirts, which has been repeatedly contested over the past few months.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.