71 killed as bombs rain down on Syrian city
BARREL bombs dropped from regime helicopters yesterday killed at least 71 civilians in Syria’s Aleppo Province, after forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad retreated from the neighboring northwestern region of Idlib.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “at least 71 civilians were killed, and dozens were wounded, when regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on the city of Al-Bab and in Al-Shaar in east Aleppo City”.
Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Britain-based monitoring group, said 12 people were killed in rebel-held Al-Shaar, including eight members of a single family.
The other 59, all male, were killed at a market in Al-Bab, Abdel Rahman said.
Al-Bab is about 40 kilometers northeast of Aleppo and is controlled by the Islamic State.
“People often gather on Saturday mornings at the Al-Hail market in Al-Bab, which is why the number of dead was so high,” said Abdel Rahman.
Barrel bombs are crude weapons made of oil drums, gas cylinders or water tanks packed with explosives and scrap metal usually dropped from helicopters.
“This is one of the biggest massacres that regime planes have committed since the beginning of 2015,” said the Syrian Revolution General Commission activist group.
The Observatory said regime forces also dropped barrel bombs on Friday in Idlib Province, which is now controlled by rebels after the Army of Conquest alliance captured the city of Ariha.
Following defeats in Idlib’s provincial capital and at a military base nearby, government forces also lost the ancient city of Palmyra to IS on May 21.
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