17/12/2013 18:42
Syria: 'Barrel bombs' fall for 3rd day
For the third straight day, Syria's largest city is getting bombarded from the sky, CNN reported.
Regime helicopters dropped another wave of barrel bombs on rebel-held parts of Aleppo early Tuesday, opposition activists said. By midday, at least 36 people -- including five children -- had been killed in the attacks, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
Barrel bombs are barrels full of explosives that sometimes contain nails or other projectiles to inflict the most harm possible.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency did not explicitly mention the use of barrel bombs Tuesday, but said "armed terrorist groups were entirely eliminated" in several parts of Aleppo. The Syrian regime often describes opposition forces bent out ousting President Bashar al-Assad as "terrorists."
Tuesday's carnage follows two days of intense bloodshed in Syria's economic hub.
At least 83 people were killed Sunday by aerial bombing in Aleppo, including 27 children, the LCC said. Another 56 people died there Monday from similar attacks, the dissident group said.
Entire buildings have been flattened in the blasts, the opposition Syrian National Coalition said.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf decried the alleged use of barrel bombs.
"We strongly condemn the latest development from over the weekend that the Assad regime has dropped barrel bombs in and around Aleppo, killing dozens, including women and children," she said.
"These bombs and the explosive materials contained within them further underscore the brutality of the Assad regime and the lengths they will go to attack and kill their own people."