The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said the Assad regime’s air force has dropped over 13,000 barrel bombs on rebel-held areas since late October 2015. In October 30, 2015, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said the Assad regime stopped using barrel bombs in the ongoing war.
According to a report released by the rights group on Saturday, Assad’s helicopters dropped at least 658 barrel bombs on rebel-held areas in September of 2016 alone, killing 71 civilians, including 15 children and 9 women.
The UN Security Council will vote Saturday on rival Syria resolutions sponsored by France and Russia which are both virtually going to be vetoed leaving the war-ravaged country and the besieged city of Aleppo engulfed in brutal aerial bombardment.
France circulated its draft resolution a week ago, saying it wanted the council to unite behind it. However, negotiations never got Russia on board and the visit by the French Foreign Minister Jean Marc Ayrault to Moscow this week didn’t either.
Russia’s last minute introduction of a rival resolution on Friday afternoon took Western supporters of the French draft by surprise.
Both the French and Russian resolutions urge immediate implementation of the US-Russia cessation of hostilities agreement and “immediate, safe and unhindered humanitarian access throughout Syria.”
But France and its Western allies insist that the first step must be to halt the bombing.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said that the Russian draft resolution is a cynical attempt to divert attention away from the bombing of Aleppo. (Source: Agencies)
