Syria: at least 25 people killed in a warplane strike in Aleppo as UN envoy starts job

Violence is continuing in Syria, with opposition activists saying that a warplane may have killed as many as 25 people in a strike in Aleppo province.

In Damascus, a bomb left at least five people dead and many more wounded in the Jaramana area of the city.

Meanwhile, the new international envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said he viewed his new mission as near-impossible.

He is expected to visit Syria and meet President Bashar al-Assad.

Separately, the head of the Red Cross was travelling to Damascus on Monday in an attempt to improve aid access to civilians.

Peter Maurer said in a statement that “an adequate humanitarian response is required to keep pace” with the worsening violence.

In Aleppo, human rights groups said several women and children were among the 25 victims when a building was hit in the town of al-Bab.

Al-Bab, just to the north-east of Aleppo, appears to be largely in rebel hands, and has been heavily pounded by government forces in recent weeks.

Increasingly, as the conflict deepens, the regime has made fuller use of its air power – attack helicopters and fixed-wing jets – to support its ground forces as they try to root out the lightly-armed rebels from towns, cities and villages all over the country, our correspondent says.

In the car bombing in the Damascus suburb, one building was badly damaged and Syrian state news agency Sana reported that women and children were among the victims. Sana blamed “an armed terrorist group” for the attack.

The explosion is the second deadly bombing within a week targeting the predominantly Druze and Christian area of Jaramana.

At least 12 people were killed when a car bomb blew up at a funeral for two people said by opposition activists to have been supporters of President Bashar al-Assad.