Mon, Nov 03, 2014 page6

• Syria boosts barrel bombings as world looks away

  • AFP, BEIRUT
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  With global attention focused on the fight against militants, Syria’s regime has in recent weeks stepped up its use of deadly barrel bomb strikes, killing civilians and wreaking devastation, observers said.

  In less than two weeks, warplanes have dropped at least 401 barrel bombs on rebel areas in eight provinces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group.

  Activist Yassin Abu Raed, from the town of Anadan in northern Aleppo Province, has seen his house hit three times in barrel bomb attacks.

  The latest strike destroyed it.

  “Death is all around us, and nobody cares,” he told reporters via the Internet. “Barrel bombs kill those we love most, they destroy houses, dreams and memories and leave us without any hope that the killing will ever stop. All this, and no one has even heard of us, no one feels for us.”

  The observatory, which documents casualties and strikes — relying on a broad network of activists and doctors across the war-torn country, said at least 232 civilians have been killed in regime air strikes, including barrel bomb attacks, since Oct. 20.

  Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the number of barrel bomb attacks is now “much higher” than two weeks ago.

  The regime began using barrel bombs in late 2012, but stepped up its attacks this year, with a wave of raids in February alone killing hundreds of people, he said.

  Barrel bombs are typically constructed from large oil drums, gas cylinders or water tanks filled with high explosives and scrap metal.

  On Wednesday last week, helicopters dropped four barrel bombs on a camp for displaced people in the northwestern province of Idlib, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens, the observatory said.

  Activists posted video on YouTube reportedly showing bodies torn apart and people wailing as they tried to rescue survivors.

  The US denounced the attack as “barbaric.”

  Ismail al-Hassan, a volunteer nurse at a field hospital in Idlib, told reporters that healthcare workers face immense difficulties treating the wounded after a barrel bomb blast.

  “Most of the casualties from barrel bomb strikes are women and children,” al-Hassan said, adding that medical staff suffer from severe equipment shortages, making it hard to treat casualties properly.

  Al-Hassan also said he and his colleagues suffer deep psychological scars from treating victims.

  “Once, we had to decide to leave a child to die. He simply had too many wounds on his body; we could not save him,” al-Hassan said.

  Like many Syrians in rebel-held areas, al-Hassan resents the West’s failure to help topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

  “Everyone in Syria has realized that we have only God by our side,” he said.

  In February, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding that all sides in Syria’s war end attacks against civilians, with a specific mention of the use of barrel bombs.

  The Syrian government denies using barrel bombs and says it only targets “terrorists.”

  New York-based Human Rights Watch has repeatedly blasted Damascus over its “unlawful” use of barrel bombs, saying the weapon is particularly indiscriminate.

  Human Rights Watch researcher Lama Fakih said there had been no global effort to hold al-Assad’s government to account.

  “While there is international effort to stop abuses by the Islamic State [militant group], there is no concerted international effort to stop abuses by the Syrian government, including attacks against the civilian population,” she said.

  The US and its mainly Persian Gulf allies began airstrikes against extremist positions in Syria last month, but there has been no question of extending the strikes against al-Assad’s regime.

  “Unfortunately, international attention has been diverted by the Islamic State’s advances in Iraq and Syria,” Fakih said.

  Abdel Rahman agreed.

  “The number of regime air strikes including barrel bomb attacks is just crazy, and there has been an escalation in recent days,” he said.

  He accused Damascus of “taking advantage” of the world’s focus on Islamic State fighters to step up its attacks on rebel areas.

  Syria’s opposition says international criticism of the regime is simply not enough.

  “The United States criticizes the regime, but it still does nothing” said Samir Nashar, a member of the key opposition National Coalition.

  “Meanwhile, the regime is making military advances,” he said.
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