UPDATE - Russian, regime warplanes kill 30 civilians in Aleppo

ADDS STATE DEPARTMENT REACTION

By Ali Demir

ALEPPO, Syria (AA) – At least 30 civilians were killed and 250 injured Monday in airstrikes by Russian and the Syrian regime on besieged neighborhoods of eastern Aleppo, a civil defense official told Anadolu Agency on Monday.

"Russian and regime warplanes hit Aleppo's opposition-controlled areas hard, leaving 30 civilians dead and 250 others wounded," Baybars Meshaal, an Aleppo-based civil defense said.

Meshaal said the airstrikes mainly targeted the neighborhoods of Al-Ansari, Al-Sukkari, Al-Qatirgi, Al-Shaar, al-Firdaws, Al-Maadin, and Tariq al-Bab.

"Russian and regime warplanes have carried out more than 200 airstrikes on Aleppo since this morning. We’re having trouble reaching the scene due to the intensity of the attacks," he said.

"Local people are leaving their homes because of the attacks. The wounded are being carried by handcart," he added.

Civil defense teams are barely managing to rescue victims trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings, Meshaal said, adding: "We rescued a 10-month-old child named Hassan and his father from under a collapsed building. Unfortunately, we found the dead".

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said multilateral talks continued in Geneva on a cease-fire and urged Russia to use its leverage with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop the bombings.

Kirby said the UN estimates there are no longer any more hospitals left in Aleppo to take care of "roughly 120,000 children".

He rejected claims that Secretary of State John Kerry had a number of telephone calls with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that were not made public but said the men last spoke last Tuesday.