Bloodied Syrian girl cries out for father after rocket hits their home
WARNING: This story contains graphic video footage
A video has emerged of a bloodied Syrian girl crying out for her father at a medical facility after a deadly rocket attack destroyed their home north of Homs.
The girl, who says in the footage that her name is Aya, was at home in Talbiseh when the rocket caused the ceiling to collapse. She became separated from her family, and is seen in a video sobbing and covered in dust as hospital staff and volunteers try to piece together her story and tend to her wounds.
The Talbiseh Media Centre, an opposition activist group, told CNN the eight-year-old has since been reunited with her family. Her mother, father and three siblings were wounded in the strike, but are all recovering.
The attack purportedly took place Monday when Syrian fighter jets bombarded the town. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain, said warplanes launched raids on the town on Monday morning, resulting in one death and several injuries.
Talbiseh is some 13 kilometres north of the devastated city of Homs — one of the first cities to become opposition strongholds during the beginning of the country's civil war.
The video is one of many grisly clips and images out of Syria featuring children. A video of five-year-old Omran Daqneesh, bloodied and caked in dirt in the back of an ambulance after surviving an airstrike in Aleppo, garnered international headlines in August. His 10-year-old brother Ali died.
Bombing continues in Aleppo
Activists say an airstrike on the biggest market in the rebel-held side of Syria's Aleppo has killed at least 15 people.
Wednesday's strike came the day after at least 41 people, including five children, were killed in a series of airstrikes across besieged, rebel-held parts of the city, which has been the epicentre of Syria's civil war for months.
Overstretched rescuers were still digging through the rubble from the strikes the day before when they were called to the scene of the market bombing, which took place in the early afternoon.
The Syrian Civil Defence, a volunteer group of first responders also known as The White Helmets, says at least 15 people, including women and children, were killed in the market bombing.
The activist-run Aleppo Media Center reported a similar toll. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said seven people were killed, but that the toll was likely to rise as people were buried in rubble.
Rescue workers say they pulled at least one boy alive from under the rubble late on Tuesday night.
Putin, Pope weigh in
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is fighting al-Qaeda-linked militants in Syria who are using civilians as human shields in the city of Aleppo.
"We can't allow terrorists to use people as human shields and blackmail the entire world," Putin said.
He also criticized the U.S. for failing to combat the al-Qaeda offshoot in Syria, which this summer renamed itself Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.
Pope Francis, in his strongest appeal to date on the conflict in Syria, on Wednesday called for an "immediate ceasefire" to allow for the evacuation of civilians.
"It is with a sense of urgency that I renew my appeal, imploring those responsible with all my strength for an immediate ceasefire," the Pope said before tens of thousands of people at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.
Francis said a ceasefire was essential "at least for the time necessary to allow for the evacuation of civilians, especially children, who are still trapped by cruel bombardments."
Hundreds killed since ceasefire broken
The observatory said Wednesday at least 358 civilians have been killed in eastern Aleppo since a U.S.-Russian cease-fire collapsed on Sept. 19. The UN says over 100 children have been killed in the campaign, which has also included a limited ground offensive.
The UN Security Council is deadlocked over how to respond to the crisis. The U.S. and Russia have failed to reach an agreement on renewing the short-lived ceasefire. International aid groups and UN agencies have appealed for a halt to the violence to allow aid to the besieged territory.
No assistance has entered Aleppo since July while hospitals, medical facilities and rescue vehicles have all come under attack.
Russia says that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Switzerland on Saturday to discuss efforts to find a new peace deal.
With files from The Associated Press and Reuters