Aleppo boy rescued by crane from edge of shattered building

Dramatic footage that shows the rescue of a boy purportedly trapped in the rubble of a building bombed Sunday night in Aleppo has emerged on social media.

In the video, the boy — identified in media reports as 12-year-old Maarouf — is shown trapped by his legs under wreckage and holding onto the edge of a building, most of which has been destroyed by an airstrike said to be in the al-Qaterji neighbourhood in the east of the besieged city.

Rescuers bring a crane to reach the boy and, with the aid of a ladder supporting his body weight, a man gradually pulls the boy's legs free and carries him down.

He is later seen in the same yellow T-shirt, which reads "Don't Shoot," receiving medical treatment alongside other children.

The White Helmets rescue service said on Twitter later on Sunday that the boy was recovering well.

5 children killed

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 17 people were killed in attacks by Russian jets on Sunday night in the al-Qarterji district of rebel-held Aleppo. That included five children, the group said.

In a separate attack, 14 members of the same family were killed in an airstrike in rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Monday, emergency service workers said, as the Syrian government pursued its Russian-backed campaign to capture opposition-held areas of the city.

A list of the dead published by the Civil Defence included several infants, among them two six-week-old babies and six other children aged eight or younger. The Civil Defence identified the jets as Russian.

The attack hit the city's al-Marjeh area. The campaign has killed several hundred people since it started last month after the collapse of a truce brokered by Russia and the United States.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it has documented the deaths of 448 people in airstrikes in eastern Aleppo since then, including 82 children. Syrian and Russian militaries say they only target militants.

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