Syria airstrike kills at least 25, injures dozens in Aleppo

A Syrian government airstrike dropped explosive-packed barrels on a rebel-held neighborhood in Aleppo on Saturday, killing at least 25 people and injuring dozens, according to Reuters.

Earlier, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said that those killed include two children, a teenager, a woman and a media activist, according to Agence France-Presse.

The death toll is likely to rise as dozens more were wounded in the attack, the Observatory said.

The airstrike, which hit a crowded vegetable market in the Tariq al-Bab neighborhood in northern Aleppo took place around 10 a.m. local time.

Another activist network. the Syrian Revolution General Commission, labeled the incident as a “massacre.”

“The raid targeted a crowded market where people were buying vegetables and home appliances,” the Commission said.

“Many buildings have been damaged, and one collapsed,” it added.

Other airstrikes were reported in several opposition-held areas of Aleppo, although there were no reports on the number of casualties.

For almost two weeks, President Bashar al-Assad's warplanes and helicopters have attacked opposition-controlled areas of the war-torn city.

The aerial assault has killed more than 400 people since it began Dec. 15, activists said.

Aleppo, Syria's largest city, has been a major front in the country's civil war since rebels launched an offensive there in mid-2012.

Since then, the city has been heavily damaged in clashes that have left it divided into rebel- and government-controlled areas.