Video shared online purports to show the aftermath of air strikes in eastern Aleppo.<br /><br /> At least 32 civilians died, five of them children during Thursday’s bombardments by the Syrian regime on the rebel-held sectors, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.<br /><br /> The monitor said it was a marked escalation in the campaign by the government backed by Russia, since the fighting resumed on November 15.<br /><br /> An estimated 250,000 civilians are living in the besieged eastern part of the city. The last working hospitals have also suffered severe damage from the continued air strikes.<br /><br /> The UN’s Syria envoy fears that eastern Aleppo could be decimated by Christmas if the current fighting continued, with tens of thousands of refugees fleeing to Turkey.<br /><br /> He added it was not in the interest of the Syrian regime to be left with a completely destroyed country.<br />
