Syrian airstrike kills 20, including 7 children

At least 20 civilians were reportedly killed when a Syrian airstrike targeted rebel-held areas east of the capital Damascus on Thursday, a monitor group reported.

Seven children and a woman were among those killed when the strikes targeted several areas in the Eastern Ghouta countryside, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based monitor group said the death toll could likely rise due to the number of critically wounded people.

Separately on Thursday, 20 people were either wounded or killed when the rebels fired mortar shells into government-controlled areas in the country's northern city of Aleppo, the Observatory said.

Almost a quarter of a million people, including nearly 12,000 children, have been killed in Syria's conflict since it broke out in March 2011. Endit