Week-long Aleppo air raids kill more than 300 - monitor

People stand on the rubble of damaged buildings after what activists said was an air raid by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, in Aleppo's al-Saliheen district December 23, 2013. REUTERS/Saad AboBrahim

BEIRUT (Reuters) - More than 300 people have been killed in a week of air raids on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and nearby towns by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, a monitoring group said on Monday.

Many of the casualties, who included scores of women and children, were killed by so-called barrel bombs dropped from helicopters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.