At least 12 members of the same family were killed during overnight airstrikes in Syria, according to a British monitoring group on Friday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, who called the attack a "massacre," said the victims in the attack on the village of Shaqatin, west of Aleppo, included six children and three women.
The monitoring group also reported that at least eight civilians were killed in the rebel-held Aleppo neighborhood of al-Qaterji, including four members of the same family.
Many more were injured in eastern, opposition controlled neighborhoods.
The origin of the warplanes that conducted the strikes was as yet unknown but both Russian and Syrian air forces were involved in fresh offensives in Syria's second city.
In an official statement quoted by the state Syrian Arab News Agency on Thursday night, Syrian Army Command announced fresh aerial campaigns in Aleppo and asked civilians to avoid "terrorist positions."
The Syrian Army added that civilians who leave rebel-held eastern districts of Aleppo and head towards government held checkpoints would not be arrested or interrogated, but would rather be considered as refugees.
Airstrikes carried out by Syrian President Bashar Al Assad's forces with the backing of Russian fighter jets are part of the regime's attempts to retake land held by armed opposition forces.
The SOHR said that the pro-Assad initiative to empty such districts of civilians would clear the way for bombing campaigns unhindered by international accusations implicating government forces with the killing of innocent civilians.
The escalation in violence in Aleppo comes amid international attempts to salvage a United States-Russia brokered ceasefire that technically expired at midnight on Sunday.
US Secretary of State John Kerry advised Moscow that it had to show a sincere commitment that it could revive the truce in Syria, and said that he would most likely meet his Russian counterpart on Friday to discuss the implications therein.
Source: EFE
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