New explosion in Damascus targets state news agency building

A new explosion has hit the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday targeting the state’s news agency building, reported Al Arabiya.

Activists reported that the SANA news agency building was severely damaged. Security forces were heavily deployed in al-Baramke area and ambulances were rushing to the site.

No details were provided about who was behind the attack.

In Aleppo, at least 13 civilians were killed Sunday in a missile attack by the Syrian army, a monitoring group said according to AFP.

“We have documented the names of nine people, while we can confirm at least another four were also killed. All were civilians,” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The watchdog warned that the number of casualties could rise as people scrambled to sift through the rubble of a five-storey building that collapsed in the attack on Ansari district, in southwestern Aleppo.

A picture taken by an amateur photographer and distributed by the Observatory showed people gathered around a pile of rubble and the watchdog said two other buildings were damaged in the attack.

Large swathes of Aleppo city, once Syria's commercial hub, have been destroyed ever since the army launched an all-out assault in mid-July to stop rebels entering into the city from the neighboring countryside.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria's 22-month conflict, the U.N. says.