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| Children killed in the cluster bombing of Deir al-Asafeer |
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| Rebel takeover of Marj al-Sultan helicopter base |
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s air force has
again used cluster munitions, this time leaving 10 children dead hours after
Syrian rebels captured a helicopter base just outside Damascus
on Sunday.
The
children were killed in the village of Deir al-Asafeer.
The
Marj al-Sultan helicopter base that was stormed by the rebels and Deir
al-Asafeer are both on the outskirts of Assad’s seat of power in the capital.
“Syria’s
disregard for its civilian population is all too evident in its air campaign,
which now apparently includes dropping these deadly cluster bombs into
populated areas,” Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch, said last
month. “Cluster bombs have been comprehensively banned by most nations, and
Syria should immediately stop all use of these indiscriminate weapons that
continue to kill and maim for years.” (See “Syrian regime killing its people with cluster bombs”.)
The
10 children were killed when a MiG fighter bombed a playground in Deir
al-Asafeer, east of Damascus, opposition activists said.
Video posted on the
Internet showed cluster bomblets as well as children bodies on the ground. The
bodies of two bloodied dead boys were in the back seat of a car parked nearby.
Several other wounded children were seen rushed for treatment.
The Associated Press said “activist videos
appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting about the events
depicted.”
Two cluster bombs were
dropped on the village, activists said. One man told Reuters 70 bomblets had been found.
"None of those
killed was older than 15 years old," Abu Kassem, an activist in Deir
al-Asafeer told the news agency.
He said 15 people had
been wounded in the attack and denied that rebel fighters were inside the
village. They had been operating on the outskirts, he said.
Deir al-Asafeer lies
some 12 kilometers southeast of Damascus and has a population of about 7,000.
The picturesque village
is renowned for its clement weather and its dairy products and fruits, chiefly fresh
and dried apricots.
Rebel fighters captured
Marj al-Sultan helicopter base, not far from Deir al-Asafeer, hours earlier.
They destroyed two
helicopters with RPGs and took 15 prisoners and ammunition before withdrawing
for fear of counterstrikes by regime warplanes.
Videos posted online
showed at least three other undamaged helicopters and several radar posts on hills
as rebels roamed freely inside the large compound.
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| BBC map shows Deir al-Asafeer and Marj al-Sultan near Damascus |
Rebels have been
attacking air bases in different parts of Syria, mostly in the northern regions
of Idlib and Aleppo.
"We are seeing the
starting signs of a rebel siege of Damascus," veteran opposition
campaigner Fawaz Tello told Reuters
from Berlin. "Marj al-Sultan is very near to the Damascus Airport road and
to the airport itself. The rebels appear to be heading toward cutting this as
well as the main northern artery to Aleppo."
The village of Marj
al-Sultan is 18 kilometers southeast of Damascus and has a population of 2,500,
most of them of Caucasian origin.
“Marj” in Arabic stands
for “pasture.”
The village was named Marj
al-Sultan because it was the spot where Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid pastured his
horses.
