'This isn't Pompeii, this is Aleppo'

Story highlights

• Another picture brings the horrors of Aleppo into focus
• 200 airstrikes pummel eastern Aleppo since Friday, a volunteer group says

"This isn't Pompeii, this is Aleppo," one social media user wrote.

Weekend of horror

The Syrian Civil Defense, also know as The White Helmets, explained to CNN that the image shows the father with his knee up, his son next to him. Three of their family of five were killed in the airstrike: the father and the son pictured, plus another child. The mother and a daughter, who were in a different room in the apartment, survived and were brought to the hospital.

The deadly strike hit their home at 5 a.m. on Friday morning in the rebel-held neighborhood of Qaterji in Eastern Aleppo. The strike was among the first of a series of hundred over the weekend.

One activist speaking to CNN from Aleppo described a level of bombing that they had never seen before. The Syrian war began in March 2011.

In response to the surge in airstrikes, activists took to Twitter using an Arabic hashtag that translates to #HolocaustAleppo and sharing pictures and videos from the city. Some had mistakenly described the father and son picture as being that of a mother clutching her baby.

Iconic images

Last month, a picture of Omran Daqneesh, bloodied and covered with dust, sitting in an ambulance after surviving an airstrike that destroyed his family's home, was a stark reminder of the toll of Syria's war. Last year, a photo of the lifeless body of Aylan Kurdi underscored Europe's refugee crisis.

This weekend's father and son picture may be another reminder and some people using #HolocaustAleppo on social media speculated that, unfortunately, there would likely be many more.

CNN's Roba Alhenawi contributed to this report.

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