Latest barrel bomb attack in Aleppo leaves 71 dead

#aleppo #barrelbombs #syria I#ISIS Government helicopters have dropped barrel bombs on Syria's northern Aleppo province and at least 71 persons are believed to have been killed as reported in bbc.com dated 30 May 2015.

As per the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), 59 people died in the strike on a busy market in al-Babs - a town which is at present held by Islamic State (IS) militants. Another 12 people were killed in the city of Aleppo. They were killed in Aleppo's rebel-held Shaar area and eight of them were members of a single family.
Syria's government has repeatedly denied using barrel bombs. These are large containers filled with explosives and, when dropped by helicopters, are among the most deadly and inaccurate weapons used by government forces. Reports of dropping of these bombs keep surfacing on a regular basis and are denied by the authorities.
The casualties are expected to increase because the dead were mostly civilians, including women and children – the injuries to many of the injured are reported to be serious.
The SOHR, which collects information through a network of activists in Syria, has termed this attack as one of the worst massacres perpetrated by the government so far during this year.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Ancient 2000-year-old city of Palmyra in Syria targeted for destruction by ISIS

#ISIS #Palmyra #Syria #WorldHeritage #UNESCO Islamic State terrorists have reportedly moved towards the gates of ancient 2000-year-old city of Palmyra and are believed to have targeted it for destruction. There are fears that this Syrian world heritage site could be in for destruction as the jihadists have already done in Iraq. This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 15 May 2015.

As the ISIS militants overran nearby villages, they executed 26 civilians - 10 of them were beheaded because they were 'collaborating with the regime.' This is what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) have said.
Irina Bokova, head of the UN's cultural body UNESCO, has requested both the Syrian troops and the extremists to spare Palmyra because it 'represents an irreplaceable treasure for the Syrian people, and the world. … Palmyra must be saved.' She made these comments at a two-day conference in Cairo on protecting the region's archeological sites.
Her request was echoed by Syria's head of antiquities who made an appeal for international action saying IS was less than two kilometers from what remained of one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world.
Incidentally, UNESCO has described Palmyra as a world heritage site of 'outstanding universal value'. This ancient city was on a caravan route at the crossroads of several civilizations and its temples that are of 1st and 2nd century apart from the colonnaded streets mark a unique blend of Graeco-Roman and Persian influences. (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Brutal murder of 30 civilians by ISIS in the Syrian village of Al-Mabujeh

#ISIS #jihadists #Syria #Idlib #Raqqa It was a brutal murder of at least 30 civilians by the ISIS militants in the regime-held village of al-Mabujeh in the central Syrian province of Hama. The Sunni-extremist attackers did not spare even the children and resorted to burning, beheading, and firing on them.
This has been confirmed by Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 31 March 2015.

The attack happened in the morning when the ISIS militants launched a massive offensive in the area, beginning near the Youth Housing Camp. The time was around 2.30am and multiple checkpoints were targeted before the jihadis managed to seize control of the National Defense Force positions at around 6.45am.
Syrian government forces had conducted airstrikes and fired surface-to-surface missiles on the rebel-held city of Idlib, killing at least 14. It is believed that the attack in al-Mabujeh was a fallout of that because the militants probably fear that the government could retake the city that it had lost on Saturday.
Idlib has a population of around 165,000 people and it was the second provincial capital to fall to the opposition after Raqqa, which is now in the hands of the Islamic State group.

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Iraqi ground forces backed by air power arrest the advance of Islamic State militants

The advancing Islamic State (IS) militants in Amariya al-Falluja, 40-Km from Baghdad have been checked by Iraqi ground forces who, backed by air strikes, appear to have halted IS militants, who have been making gains towards the capital Baghdad bbc.com.
Amariya al-Falluja is believed to be a key strategic town and the attacks by Iraqi forces appear to have come as a US-led coalition continues to carry out air strikes on IS targets in Syria and Iraq.
The area around Amariya al-Falluja is now reported to be calm, but there is a standoff along the main road to Falluja to the north, which is controlled by IS.
The Pentagon has confirmed that US air strikes overnight had targeted other IS positions in Anbar province, 80-Km from Baghdad.
In Syria US war planes also struck four more oil fields controlled by IS militants near the group's stronghold in Raqqa. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which monitors the conflict in Syria, has revealed that casualties in US airstrikes were mostly civilians.
The air strikes in Syria appear to be focused on cutting off IS's revenue by targeting oil fields and, US President Barack Obama has indicated that a political solution to the crisis can come only when Sunni and Shia populations come together to defeat the IS jihadists.