ALEPPO, Syria, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- The use of barrel bombs, oil drums filled with explosives and shrapnel, in the Syrian civil war has killed 517 people in Aleppo since Dec. 15, activists say.
Among those who have been killed by barrel bombs are 151 were children and 46 women, the BBC reported.
Aleppo and surrounding areas have been the recent focus in battles between President Bashar Assad's forces and rebels fighters.
Meanwhile, a Norwegian naval ship is preparing to collect chemical weapons from Syria that will be destroyed in international waters in a specially made titanium tank.
Syria agreed to get rid of all of its chemical weapons in order to avoid a possible U.S. military intervention after news broke about a sarin nerve gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus in August.
Under a deal brokered by the United States and Russia, Syria must destroy all of its chemical weapons by the end of June 2014.
