13 civilians killed in regime air raids on northern Syria

BEIRUT — Thirteen civilians, among them seven children, were killed in aerial attacks by Syria’s government Wednesday on the northern province of Aleppo, a monitoring group said.

“A woman and her three children, as well as another child, were killed when helicopters dropped a barrel bomb on the village of Taduf,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Taduf, which lies in the northeast of Syria’s Aleppo province, is controlled by the Daesh terror group. 

In the province’s west, “eight civilians, including three children, were killed when regime warplanes struck the village of Daret Izza,” held by Islamist fighters and other rebels. 

“Regime forces are continuing to kill civilians through aerial attacks, with barrel bombs or shells, indifferent to the international resolutions on this matter,” said observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. 

He said the attacks amounted to “war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by regime forces on a daily basis”.

Abdel Rahman told AFP the bombing campaign was an effort by the regime “to turn civilians against the opposition factions or against IS, with the reasoning that the aerial attacks are a result of the presence of fighters inside their towns and villages”.

The regime has stepped up air attacks in Aleppo province in recent days, killing at least 57 civilians when it dropped “container bombs” on the Daesh-held town of Al Bab at the weekend. 

Also Wednesday, 22 Daesh fighters were killed when regime warplanes struck a convoy traveling between the provinces of Deir Ezzor in the east and Hasakeh in the northeast. 

According to the observatory, the jihadists were all Syrians from Deir Ezzor.