World Bulletin/News Desk

At least 24 people have been killed by barrel bombs that Syrian regime air forces dropped on opposition-controlled areas in Hama and ar-Raqqah on Sunday, opposition activists said.

The Syrian Network of Human Rights said 10 people, including five children, were killed, and many others wounded in ar-Raqqah during the barrel bomb attacks by regime forces, adding that many residential places were damaged.

Meanwhile, an opposition news agency claimed that 14 others died during another barrel bomb attack by government helicopters in Hama.

Syria has seen almost incessant fighting since the regime mounted a violent crackdown in response to anti-government protests in March 2011, triggering a conflict which has escalated into a civil war.

The UN has ceased updating its death toll in Syria, saying an official count had become too difficult to verify. At least 100,000 deaths had been recorded in the last official count in July 2013.