Khalid Saleh, President of the Media Office, said that “we condemn the Assad regime’s latest escalation of violence against civilians in Syria. Yesterday, Assad’s forces dropped more than 14 barrel bombs on different parts of the Aleppo province.” According to activists, scores of civilians were killed and injured, including women and children, as the Assad regime intensified its campaign of indiscriminate bombardment of residential areas. Ground-to-ground rockets, fired by Assad’s forces, also fell on the main marketplace in the town of Kafr Batna, rural Damascus, killing at least 10 civilians and wounding many. Other areas were also under heavy shelling including Zabadani, Ashrafiat al Wadi, and Khan al Sheih in rural Damascus. Saleh stresses that Assad’s systematic bombardment of civilian populations as a collective punishment for opposing its rule amounts to war crimes. “These crimes should be investigated and their perpetrators brought to justice. The UN Security Council has a duty to maintain international peace and security, and neutralizing Assad’s air force to protect innocent civilians is definitely one of the many things the UNSC should do to fulfill that duty.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)
