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| Syria Activists Say Dozens Killed in Aleppo Air Assault | Syria Activists Say Dozens Killed in Aleppo Air Assault |
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| BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian antigovernment activist groups on Monday reported what appeared to be a major escalation of the military’s prolonged siege of Aleppo, with video and witness accounts of a helicopter gunship attack in which crews dropped explosive barrels filled with TNT and shrapnel on more than 13 rebel-held neighborhoods. | BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian antigovernment activist groups on Monday reported what appeared to be a major escalation of the military’s prolonged siege of Aleppo, with video and witness accounts of a helicopter gunship attack in which crews dropped explosive barrels filled with TNT and shrapnel on more than 13 rebel-held neighborhoods. |
| Reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and others said that between 76 and 118 civilians, including as many as 28 children, were killed in the air assault on Sunday. The scope of the destruction appeared to be enormous, based on video clips uploaded by the observatory and Syrian social media users that could not be immediately corroborated for their authenticity. | Reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and others said that between 76 and 118 civilians, including as many as 28 children, were killed in the air assault on Sunday. The scope of the destruction appeared to be enormous, based on video clips uploaded by the observatory and Syrian social media users that could not be immediately corroborated for their authenticity. |
| The observatory, a group based in Britain that monitors the Syrian war through a network of contacts on the ground and has reported on brutalities by both sides, reported further air attacks on Monday, both in Aleppo and near the southern border with Jordan. But the extent of casualties and damage was unclear. | |
| Improvised barrel bombs, which contain hundreds of pounds of explosives and shrapnel that includes metal shards and iron nails, have been used before by the Syrian Air Force in the 33-month conflict and have been condemned by rights groups as a particularly insidious weapon that kills indiscriminately. | Improvised barrel bombs, which contain hundreds of pounds of explosives and shrapnel that includes metal shards and iron nails, have been used before by the Syrian Air Force in the 33-month conflict and have been condemned by rights groups as a particularly insidious weapon that kills indiscriminately. |
| Syria’s state-run news agency, SANA, said nothing about the use of barrel bombs or civilian deaths, but reported that in Aleppo, “armed terrorist groups were entirely eliminated” in a number of neighborhoods by the Syrian military. “Terrorists’ weapons and ammunition were also destroyed,” the news agency said. | Syria’s state-run news agency, SANA, said nothing about the use of barrel bombs or civilian deaths, but reported that in Aleppo, “armed terrorist groups were entirely eliminated” in a number of neighborhoods by the Syrian military. “Terrorists’ weapons and ammunition were also destroyed,” the news agency said. |
| The reported use of the barrel bombs provoked a protest by Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund. Maria Calivis, the group’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement that it was “horrified by reports of a bombing raid in Aleppo that may have killed as many as 28 children.” | The reported use of the barrel bombs provoked a protest by Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund. Maria Calivis, the group’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement that it was “horrified by reports of a bombing raid in Aleppo that may have killed as many as 28 children.” |
| Ms. Calivis said that “it is absolutely unacceptable for children to be targeted in this manner, whether through the use of indiscriminate weapons resulting in mass casualties or by any other means.” | Ms. Calivis said that “it is absolutely unacceptable for children to be targeted in this manner, whether through the use of indiscriminate weapons resulting in mass casualties or by any other means.” |
| Witnesses said field hospitals in Aleppo, already understaffed and poorly equipped because of the war, were struggling to cope with large numbers of maimed civilians, many of them in critical condition. | Witnesses said field hospitals in Aleppo, already understaffed and poorly equipped because of the war, were struggling to cope with large numbers of maimed civilians, many of them in critical condition. |
| Aleppo, one of the Middle East’s oldest cities and formerly Syria’s commercial center, has been a major battleground since the middle of 2012, when insurgents seized parts of it. | Aleppo, one of the Middle East’s oldest cities and formerly Syria’s commercial center, has been a major battleground since the middle of 2012, when insurgents seized parts of it. |
| The Aleppo bombing appeared to be part of a broader escalation of fighting in the conflict ahead of the first scheduled peace talks between the government and opposition, to be held under the auspices of the United Nations on Jan. 22 in Geneva. | |
| At the United Nations on Monday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed at his year-end news conference for a Syrian cease-fire in advance of the talks and said the humanitarian crisis in Syria had worsened. He also called for accountability for the perpetrators of the five chemical weapons attacks that a special panel appointed by him had documented in a report released last Thursday. | |
| The panel, led by Ake Sellstrom, a Swedish scientist, did not accuse one side or the other of responsibility, but information in its investigation of an Aug. 21 assault in the Syria suburb of Ghouta, the most serious of the five documented attacks, appeared to point fingers at the Syrian government. | |
| Russia, the Syrian government’s most important supporter, has accused insurgents of orchestrating the Aug. 21 attack as part of a plot to provoke American military intervention, which was averted after Russia pressured the Syrian government to join the global treaty that bans chemical munitions. | |
| The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly I. Churkin, reiterated that argument on Monday, saying that the Sellstrom panel had failed to produce evidence implicating the Syrian government in the Aug. 21 attack. “A large-scale provocation was staged,” Mr. Churkin said following a Security Council meeting on the United Nations report. “The sum total of the report by Dr. Sellstrom does not give enough ground to definitively prove something.” | |
| The Syrian ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, told reporters that since his government was already cooperating to dismantle its chemical weapons program, “the chapter is being closed.” | |
Mohammad Ghannam reported from Beirut and Rick Gladstone from New York. Somini Sengupta contributed reporting from the United Nations. |