Syria: New victims in the attack on Manjib

During an air attack by Syrian forces on the city of Manjib, in the north of the country, sixteen people died, including eight children, the Syrian Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights announced.

According to the announcement of that non-governmental organization, whose headquarters is in London, seven more people were killed in the cities of El Bab and Azaz, seven kilometers from the Turkish border, during airstrikes by the Syrian army.

A video posted on You Tube shows a group of people running towards the affected buildings at the time of the Manjib bombing to try to find survivors in the ruins.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said military planes also carried out airstrikes on Daraya, a strategically important suburb near a key military base southwest of Damascus.

Because of its strategic location near the military base, the Syrian army has been shelling Daraja with artillery for weeks.

Heavy fighting is also taking place near the Damascus International Airport, and regime forces are shelling the city of Aqraba on the way to the airport, according to reports by a non-governmental organization, which collects data relying on activists from the field.

The fighting around Damascus is part of a government offensive to push rebels out of towns and villages around the Syrian capital. Those places have been strongholds of the opposition since the beginning of the uprising against the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad almost two years ago.

At least 60.000 people have been killed since Syria's civil war began in March 2011, according to United Nations figures.