A total of 44 people were killed in attacks launched by Syrian regime forces across the country on Friday, opposition activists said.
Air and land operations involving heavy weaponry killed 10 in the suburbs of capital Damascus, 14 in Aleppo, six in Idlib, five in Homs, three each in Hama and Latakia, two in Daraa and one in Deiruz Zor, according to London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights, which tracks civilian and opposition casualties.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government's official news agency SANA claimed security forces "neutralized" a large number of armed groups during operations in Aleppo, Daraa, Latakia and suburbs of Damascus.
Syria has been gripped by almost constant fighting since the regime launched a violent crackdown in response to anti-government protests in March 2011, triggering a conflict, which has spiraled into a civil war.
The UN has stopped updating its death toll for the country because an official count had become too difficult to verify. At least 100,000 deaths were recorded in the last official count in July 2013.
www.aa.com.tr/en
