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Civilians killed by barrel bombs near Damascus
[Al Jazeera] At least 14 civilians have been killed and several others maimed in a series of barrel-kabooms on rebel-held areas near Damascus, Al Jazeera has learnt.Syrian government air strikes targeted the town of Wadi Barada, northwest of the capital, on Monday, injuring dozens of people, including several children, activists told Al Jazeera. According to videos posted on social media by opposition groups, the Syrian government intensified its assault on the town. The White Helmets, an all-volunteer rescue group, said a number of people were trapped under the rubble following the heavy bombardment. Barrel bombs are crude, unguided bombs used by Syrian government forces that have been blamed for thousands of civilian deaths. They are typically constructed from large oil drums and filled with explosives, nails and scrap metal. Third day of offensive Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Gaziantep, on the Turkish side of the border with Syria, said the government was in the third day of an offensive against Jaish al-Islam  ...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful..., which controls Wadi Barada and is one of the most powerful groups battling Assad's forces. On Friday, the Syrian army and the Lebanese gang Hezbollah launched an operation to retake Wadi Barada, after accusing the rebels of contaminating drinking water at a spring with diesel. The Wadi Barada valley, a mountainous area near the Lebanese border, has been under siege since 2014 with food, water and electricity all in short supply. Posted by: Fred 2016-12-27 |
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