U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday he is “deeply concerned” about a recent increase in violence in Syria and that he continues to believe in the need for a political solution inside the country.
“We remain deeply concerned about the upsurge in fighting in Syria over the last several days, and we continue to agree that the only real durable solution is a political solution that moves Syria towards an inclusive government that represents all Syrians,” Obama said at a news conference alongside German chancellor Angela Merkel.

Syrian government strikes kill 23

 Syrians look at the damage following a reported air strike by regime forces on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Sakhur in the northern city of Aleppo on April 24, 2016.

Syrian warplanes bombed the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus and parts of Aleppo in the north yesterday, killing 23 people, with the death toll likely to rise, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Fighting has escalated around Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Damascus and other areas over the past week and the main opposition group walked out of Geneva peace talks this week in protest at government attacks. The Geneva talks aim to end a war that has killed more than 250,000 people, created the world’s worst refugee crisis, allowed for the rise of ISIS and drawn in regional and major powers.
The Britain-based Observatory, which monitors the Syrian war through a network of contacts, said the death toll in Douma, northeast of the capital, was expected to rise from 13 because more than 22 others were injured, some critically.
There was also fighting near Bala in the southeast of Damascus between rebel groups and government forces with deaths occurring on both sides.
Ten civilians were killed and 30 others were injured in Assad regime airstrikes on a busy market in Syria’s Aleppo province. A Syrian Civil Defense source, who spoke to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said regime warplanes targeted the busy market in al-Sakhour neighborhood.
This is the second day of heavy bombardment on Aleppo. Nineteen people were killed on Friday in similar air attacks.
Since a partial truce came into force in Syria on February 27, Aleppo, which was once Syria’s commercial hub and split into opposition and regime controlled halves in 2012, has seen a dramatic drop in air strikes and rocket fire.
But regime planes launched an intense campaign over the city on Friday, killing 25 civilians that day and another 12 on Saturday.
In opposition-held neighbourhoods on Sunday, strained field hospitals were calling for immediate donations of blood to respond to the emergency needs. Opposition-run schools announced on Saturday they would shut indefinitely in fear of air strikes.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the escalating violence in Aleppo and elsewhere meant the ceasefire had effectively collapsed.
More than 270,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests and the regime’s brutal crackdown.

Source: Reuters and News Agencies, 24 April 2016