Syrian regime air strikes killed at least 52 civilians, including seven children, in strongholds of the Islamic State jihadist group, a monitoring group said Friday in a new toll.
The raids struck Al-Bab and Qbasin Thursday in the northern province of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground. Previously the toll had stood at 37 dead. ‘At least 52 civilians, including seven children, three teenagers and two women, were killed in the Syrian army air raids,’ said the Observatory, adding that dozens were seriously wounded.
The regime air force has killed thousands of people since it was first deployed in the war in July 2012. Activists accuse the government of killing more civilians than jihadists in the raids. The UN and international rights groups have repeatedly called on the government to refrain from using its air force against inhabited areas.
The country’s multi-sided civil war has killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced half of its population. A US-led military coalition is carrying out regular air strikes against the Islamic State group, which has seized large areas in Syria and neighbouring Iraq. On Thursday, about 60 jihadists were killed in fighting with Kurdish forces for control of territory in northern Syria, according to the Observatory.
Moreover, the Islamic State group on Friday claimed it carried out a suicide bombing south of Baghdad that targeted Sunni fighters who oppose the jihadists, in which 38 people were killed.
The bomber attacked the fighters, known as Sahwa, while they were gathering near a military base in Madain on Wednesday to receive their pay, also wounding at least 56 people. IS claimed the attack in a message posted online titled ‘Statement on the Martyrdom Operation in the Madain District’, and identified the bomber as Saifeddin al-Ansari.
IS spearheaded a sweeping militant offensive that has overrun much of Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland since June - areas that Shiite-led government forces have sought local Sunni help to recapture. The Sahwa, or ‘Awakening’ in Arabic, dates back to the height of the US-led war in Iraq, when Sunni tribesmen joined forces with the Americans to battle insurgents including IS’s predecessor organisation, the Islamic State of Iraq.
The Sahwa were key to greatly but temporarily reducing the violence, but when Iraq’s government took over responsibility for their salaries they were sometimes paid late or not at all. Now Sunni fighters, including the Sahwa and other armed tribesmen, again have an important role to play in the fight against IS.
The government has distributed arms and ammunition to tribesmen, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi aims to establish a national guard made up of local fighters, although the necessary law has yet to pass parliament. Iraqi security forces backed by US-led air strikes, Kurdish forces, Shiite militias and Sunni tribesmen have clawed back some ground from IS. But major areas, especially north and west of Baghdad, remain outside government control. (AFP)
The raids struck Al-Bab and Qbasin Thursday in the northern province of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground. Previously the toll had stood at 37 dead. ‘At least 52 civilians, including seven children, three teenagers and two women, were killed in the Syrian army air raids,’ said the Observatory, adding that dozens were seriously wounded.
The regime air force has killed thousands of people since it was first deployed in the war in July 2012. Activists accuse the government of killing more civilians than jihadists in the raids. The UN and international rights groups have repeatedly called on the government to refrain from using its air force against inhabited areas.
The country’s multi-sided civil war has killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced half of its population. A US-led military coalition is carrying out regular air strikes against the Islamic State group, which has seized large areas in Syria and neighbouring Iraq. On Thursday, about 60 jihadists were killed in fighting with Kurdish forces for control of territory in northern Syria, according to the Observatory.
Moreover, the Islamic State group on Friday claimed it carried out a suicide bombing south of Baghdad that targeted Sunni fighters who oppose the jihadists, in which 38 people were killed.
The bomber attacked the fighters, known as Sahwa, while they were gathering near a military base in Madain on Wednesday to receive their pay, also wounding at least 56 people. IS claimed the attack in a message posted online titled ‘Statement on the Martyrdom Operation in the Madain District’, and identified the bomber as Saifeddin al-Ansari.
IS spearheaded a sweeping militant offensive that has overrun much of Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland since June - areas that Shiite-led government forces have sought local Sunni help to recapture. The Sahwa, or ‘Awakening’ in Arabic, dates back to the height of the US-led war in Iraq, when Sunni tribesmen joined forces with the Americans to battle insurgents including IS’s predecessor organisation, the Islamic State of Iraq.
The Sahwa were key to greatly but temporarily reducing the violence, but when Iraq’s government took over responsibility for their salaries they were sometimes paid late or not at all. Now Sunni fighters, including the Sahwa and other armed tribesmen, again have an important role to play in the fight against IS.
The government has distributed arms and ammunition to tribesmen, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi aims to establish a national guard made up of local fighters, although the necessary law has yet to pass parliament. Iraqi security forces backed by US-led air strikes, Kurdish forces, Shiite militias and Sunni tribesmen have clawed back some ground from IS. But major areas, especially north and west of Baghdad, remain outside government control. (AFP)
