21 Civilians Including 7 Children Killed in Air Strikes in Syria

Smoke rises after airstrikes by military jets in Syria. (Photo: AP)

• A monitoring group has confirmed that at least 21 civilians, including seven children were killed in air strikes that targeted several towns in central Syria. Fourteen civilians were killed when barrel bombs hit the town of Al-Houla, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
  
  
• The Observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria to gather information on the conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 people so far and displaced millions.
  
  
• It strives to determine whether strikes were carried out by Syrian, Russian or US-led coalition aircraft based on the location of the raids, flight patterns and the types of planes and munitions involved.
  

(With inputs from AFP)