Regime Airstrikes on Aleppo Kill 29

ٍRegime airstrikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo have killed at least 29 civilians, including six children, since Thursday. The six children were among 19 people who died in strikes on neighborhoods east of Aleppo on Thursday, according to Syrian Civil Defense workers.

“Five people, including three children, were killed in rocket attacks in al-Amiriya neighborhood, and 14, including three other children, by air raids in four other districts,” a spokesman for the Civil Defense, a volunteer group of rescue workers, told Agence France-Presse.

On Friday, regime air raids hit a bus traveling on the Castello road, a strategic supply route out of Aleppo for rebels, killing 10 civilians.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group, confirmed the raids.

Coalition Air-drops Arms to Rebels in Marea

The international U.S.-led coalition fighting against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria air-dropped weapons on Thursday to rebels in the town of Marea, north of Aleppo, to assist them in their fight against the extremist group.

A rebel commander confirmed to Reuters that the coalition had dropped ammunition into the town and the rebels’ situation in the area was “difficult.”

The air-drop was the first of its kind from the U.S.-led coalition to rebels other than the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to the U.K-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Last week, ISIS cut off the supply lines to rebels in Marea, blocking support from the Turkish border.

The coalition is also supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces coalition, the majority of which is made up by the Kurdish YPG militia, in another assault on ISIS positions farther to the east near the town of Manbij.

MSF Asks Turkey to Open Borders for the Displaced in Azaz

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) urged the Turkish government on Thursday to open its border to nearly 100,000 displaced Syrians trapped in northern Aleppo near the Turkish border.

According to the United Nations, tens of thousands of Syrians are already sheltering along the Turkish border after having fled violence in the country’s north earlier this year.

Fighting between rebel groups and ISIS intensified last week north of Aleppo, as the extremist group attempts to advance on the strategic border town of Azaz, sending thousands of civilians fleeing toward Turkey, Reuters reports.

“After countless displacements from military offensives, there is no place left for these people to escape to,” said Pablo Marco, MSF’s Middle East operations manager.

“The Turkish government and Turkish people are making an immense effort to help Syrian refugees … but today the people of Azaz can only count on them. We ask Turkey to show this generosity once again and open its border to those trapped in Azaz.”

Recommended Reads:

• War on the Rocks: Don’t Kill the Caliph! The Islamic State and the Pitfalls of Leadership Decapitation
• Al Jazeera English: Russian Ground Operation in Syria ‘Under Discussion’
• The New York Times: A Top Aide to Assad Takes Syria’s Case to a U.S. Audience
• The Washington Post: How Long Will America Ignore Syria’s Suffering?
• Huffington Post: What We Owe the People of Syria