90 killed in punishing air raids in Syria's Aleppo
February 2, 2014 -- Updated 1701 GMT (0101 HKT)
Medical personnel look for
survivors after a reported airstrike in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday,
February 1. The United Nations estimates more than 100,000 people have
been killed since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011. Click through
to see the most compelling images taken during the conflict, which is
now a civil war:
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Syrian civil war in photos
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Barrel bombs rained down on rebel stronghold on Saturday - opposition group
- Such bombs can level entire buildings with one hit
- "The situation is very urgent," field hospital medic says
- Bombs come after first round of Geneva talks
Women and children were
among the victims in Saturday's raids in various neighborhoods in the
rebel stronghold, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
Sunday.
It added that 10 fighters
from the radical Nusra Front were killed when their headquarters were
targeted. Nine people were killed near Aleppo's central prison, it said.
Barrel bombs -- drums packed with explosives and shrapnel -- can level entire buildings with one hit.
Barrel bombs rain down on Syria
Satellite photos show Syrian devastation
Syria's 110-year-old refugee
Playing for time with human lives
In four hours, the area
of Ansari was targeted with about 17 air strikes, one medical staffer
from a field hospital in Aleppo told CNN.
"The humanitarian
situation is very bad, there is a huge number of wounded people," he
said from the Turkish border, where he had gone to get supplies.
"I am so nervous because
my staff inside (have) become so confused, I have to calm them, I don't
know what I will have to do for tomorrow."
'Urgent situation'
In a report released Thursday,
Human Rights Watch said the Syrian government "deliberately and
unlawfully" demolished thousands of homes in rebel strongholds in the
cities of Damascus and Hama in one year.
CNN cannot independently
verify daily death tolls, but the United Nations says more than 100,000
people have been killed in Syria since 2011.
Aleppo has come under punishing, sometimes near-daily, air raids.
"The situation is very
urgent," the medic said. "We need U.S. pressure on the regime for us to
be able to take a breath, to have them stop this aggressive shelling on
Aleppo."
He said all the roads to the city were blocked.
The Syrian government has previously said the operations are targeting "terrorist groups" in neighborhoods of Aleppo.
Peace talks
News of the bombings
came after a first round of Syrian peace talks ended in Geneva on Friday
with no progress towards ending a nearly three-year civil war.
The contentious first
round began with bitter exchanges and repeatedly seemed on the verge of
collapse before the two sides entered the same room.
The next round of negotiations is due to start February 10 but the government has been unable to say whether it will return.
According to Syrian
state news agency SANA, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem ruled out any
direct talks with the U.S. unless "Secretary of State, John Kerry,
apologizes for what he had said during the opening speech of the
conference."
In opening remarks,
Kerry said the path to peace had to involve the world community and
could not include Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom he accused of
widespread human rights abuses.
The conflict has also
been mired by accusations that the Damascus government used chemical
weapons and that the opposition includes al Qaeda-affiliated groups.
"This is a modest
beginning, but it is a beginning on which we can build," U.N. special
envoy Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters after the talks ended Friday.
CNN's Saad Abedine contributed to this report
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