BEIRUT – Dozens of people were killed in a series of air
strikes on the city of Raqqa in northern Syria on Saturday, a monitoring group
and activists said, as Damascus and Moscow waged attacks on areas controlled by
Islamic State.

A cessation of hostilities in Syria took effect three
weeks ago, reducing violence but not halting the fighting as peace talks take
place in Geneva. The deal does not include al Qaeda or Islamic State militants,
whose de facto capital in Syria is Raqqa.

Russia has been pulling out its attack aircraft after
announcing a partial withdrawal from Syria, where its air campaign in support
of President Bashar al-Assad has turned fighting in his favour.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
that at least 39 people had been killed and dozens more wounded in the raids on
Raqqa.

An activist group with sources in Raqqa, called Raqqa Is
Being Slaughtered Silently, said more than 40 had been killed, and that
separate strikes hit areas in the north of Raqqa province.

The Observatory said the dead included seven women and
five children. It said it was not clear whether Syrian or Russian warplanes had
conducted the air strikes.

Separately, Russian warplanes hit the Islamic State-held
historic city of Palmyra and its immediate vicinity with some 70 air strikes,
the Observatory said, killing at least 18 Islamic State fighters.

Government forces and their allies are aiming to capture
Palmyra, some 200 km southwest of Raqqa and also held by Islamic State since
May.

The Observatory said 16 people were also killed in air
strikes in Raqqa on Friday.

– Reuters