AL Jazeera.com :Dozens of people have been killed in Syrian air strikes on the cities of Idlib and Aleppo and the suburbs of Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.At least three people were killed while 16 others were injured when Syrian helicopters dropped seven barrel bombs on a neighbourhood in Idlib on Monday, the UK-based monitoring network said.In Aleppo, at least five people, including three children, were killed in air strikes on the city of al-Bab, the Syrian Observatory said.Ongoing clashes in Aleppo province have left many people dead or injured while thousands have been left homeless.In the suburbs of Damascus, Zabadani and Eastern Ghouta, 12 barrel bombs were dropped on several areas leaving many injured, the Syrian Observatory said. No death toll has been reported yet.Al Jazeera could not independently verify the reports of violence in Syria.In central Damascus, a man detonated his explosives on Monday in the Rukn al-Din district, where major security compounds are located, according to a Syrian army source.Ali Ebrahim, a journalist reporting from Damascus, told Al Jazeera that the Syrian army is not realising any information regarding the attacks.”I spoke to the Syrian army’s press office and they refused to talk about the incident. According to my sources the general has been taken to the hospital and his situation has been stabilised.”One of his bodyguards has died. There were civilian casualties too”.The observatory also said a senior Syrian army officer was wounded in the attack though the military denied the report.”A major general who heads the munitions and supply division of the Syrian army was injured and one of his companions killed and two hurt in the rebel attack,” said Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.A Syrian army source denied the report that a senior figure had been wounded and said five people involved in a suicide attack in the bustling central district of Rukn al Din had been killed or arrested.A state-owned Syrian TV station, Al-Ikhbariya TV said authorities stopped an armed group in the Rukn al-Deen neighborhood of the capital on Monday. It says that one member of the group blew himself up. It offered no further details.Elsewhere in Syria, clashes have resumed between government forces and opposition fighters in al-Suwaida and al-Hasakah.In Golan Heights, two UN peacekeepers were wounded by mortar fire coming from the Syria.A civil defence member holds a rescued schoolgirl after what activists said was a barrel-bomb attack in a residential area of Aleppo [Reuters]In another Syria-related development, the US military denied a report that strikes led by it had killed at least 52 civilians in northern Syria earlier this week. It said those killed were actually fighters.
