Barrel bomb kills 11 children in Aleppo

‘Civilians in other encircled towns were also malnourished, starvation is just around the corner’

BEIRUT: Eleven children were killed on Thursday in a barrel bomb attack carried out by government forces on a rebel-held neighbourhood of Syria’s Aleppo city, a monitor said.

"Fifteen civilians, among them 11 children, were killed in a barrel bomb attack on the Bab al-Nayrab neighbourhood" in the south of Aleppo city, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

The group also reported eight civilians, including two children, were killed on Thursday in rebel fire on the government-held west of the city.

An AFP journalist in Bab al-Nayrab saw rescue workers and civilians digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings.

One man carried out the lifeless body of a baby no bigger than his forearm. Its eyes were closed and its body was white with dust except for speckles and smears of blood.

Elsewhere, a civil defence worker protected the face of another dead child as his colleagues scraped away the rubble encasing the rest of the child’s body.

Syria’s regime has been accused of regularly using barrel bombs -- crude, explosive devices -- on rebel-held areas that are home to civilians, and other parties to the conflict are not known to have used the weapons. President Bashar al-Assad and his government deny using barrel bombs.

Once Syria’s economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been ravaged by the conflict that began with anti-government protests in March 2011. The city has been roughly divided between rebel control in the east and government control in the west since mid-2012, with each side bombarding the other and causing civilian casualties. More than 290,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began, according to the Observatory.       

Meanwhile, Russia has agreed to a 48-hour humanitarian ceasefire in the divided Syrian city of Aleppo to allow aid deliveries, but security guarantees are awaited from other parties on the ground, UN officials said on Thursday.

The United Nations has pushed for a weekly 48-hour pause in fighting in Aleppo to alleviate suffering for about 2 million people, but major powers back opposing sides in Syria’s five-year-old civil war, complicating its implementation. "We have ...agreement now from the Russian Federation for the 48-hour pause, we’re waiting for it from the other actors on the ground.

That has taken more time frankly than I thought was needed," said Jan Egeland, who chairs the UN humanitarian task force, told reporters.

Egeland’s boss, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, said echoed his comments, saying Russia was on board but they were waiting for others parties to agree: "...we are ready, trucks are ready and they can leave anytime we get that message" Russia is the main external supporter of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Rebel groups opposing Assad are supported by Western and Gulf powers.

The White House on Thursday said it supported UN efforts to bring all sides together to deliver humanitarian relief to Aleppo and would welcome Russia’s constructive engagement. On Aug 19, the main umbrella group for the Syrian opposition cautiously welcomed a proposal for a weekly truce in Aleppo, provided this would be monitored by the United Nations.

De Mistura has been trying to bring government and opposition representatives back to the negotiating table this month to revive a shattered broader ceasefire.

The UN relief plan for Aleppo entails simultaneous deliveries of food to the rebel-held east and government-controlled west, Egeland said.

"First, a lifeline to eastern Aleppo, going cross-border from Turkey.

Initially we would be ready in the first 48-hour weekly pause to have two convoys, of 20 trucks each, that would carry enough food for 80,000 people in eastern Aleppo," he said. Western Aleppo, where needs have "increased dramatically", would be supplied via Damascus, he said.

Civilians in other encircled towns were also malnourished, Egeland said, singling out rebel-besieged Foua and Kefraya in Idlib and government-besieged Madaya near Damascus, which have not had UN food deliveries in 116 days. "Starvation is just around the corner," he warned.