UPDATE - Syria regime hits residential parts of Aleppo; 5 killed

ADDS US STATE DEPARTMENT REACTION

By Halit Suleyman

ALEPPO, Syria (AA) – Five civilians were killed and seven others injured when Syrian regime forces shelled a residential area of the northwestern city of Aleppo, local civil defense sources told Anadolu Agency.

The sources, who insisted on anonymity due to fears of reprisal, said regime forces had shelled residential complexes in Aleppo’s opposition-held Al-Ameriyah district on Thursday.

Casualties, they said, had included women and children.Meanwhile, Syrian opposition forces killed 30 members of the Daesh terrorist group early Friday after the latter tried to infiltrate the town of Mare, located 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of Aleppo, local sources told Anadolu Agency.

The U.S. State Department on Friday strongly condemned the airstrike, which also reportedly hit the Syrian-American Medical Society building.

"We're still trying to gather the facts surrounding the circumstances of today's attack," spokesman Mark Toner said, taking care not to accuse the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Instead, he urged all parties to cease attacks against civilians and medical facilities in the region.

Opposition-held Mare remains under siege by Daesh and the PYD, the terrorist organization PKK’s Syrian affiliate.

Warplanes deployed by a U.S.-led anti-Daesh coalition, meanwhile, continue to strike Daesh positions on the town’s outskirts.

Daesh has recently taken the villages of Kaljibrin and Kafr Kalbin near the city of Azaz, cutting the road linking opposition-held Azaz to Mare.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected fury and disproportionate force.

*Anadolu Agency Correspondents Mahmoud Barakat from Ankara and Esra Kaymak Avci from Washington contributed to this story.