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| In this Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012 photo. A rebel fighter throws a homemade grenade towards Syrian army troops on the frontline in the Bustan Al-Pasha neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria. Syria's air force fired missiles and dropped barrel bombs on rebel strongholds while opposition fighters attacked regime positions, flouting a U.N.-backed cease-fire that was supposed to quiet fighting over a long holiday weekend but never took hold. |
BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian fighter jets pounded rebel areas across the country on Monday with scores of airstrikes that anti-regime activists called the most widespread bombing in a single day since Syria's troubles started 19 months ago.
The death toll for what was
supposed to be a four-day cease-fire between the regime of President
Bashar Assad and rebels seeking his overthrow exceeded 500, and
activists guessed the government's heavy reliance on air power reflected
its inability to roll back rebel gains.
"The
army is no longer able to make any progress on the ground so it is
resorting to this style," said activist Hisham Nijim via Skype from the
northern town of Khan Sheikhoun.
Activists
said more than 80 people were killed nationwide Monday while videos
posted online showed fighter jets screaming over Syrian towns, mushroom
clouds rising from neighborhoods and residents searching the remains of
damaged and collapsed buildings for bodies. One video from Maaret
al-Numan in the north showed residents trying to save a boy who was
buried up to his shoulders in rubble. Another showed the dead bodies of a
young boy and girl laid out on a tile floor.
The
airstrikes focused on rebel areas in the northern provinces of Aleppo
and Idlib, as well as on restive areas in and around the capital
Damascus. The regime has been bombing rebel areas in the north for
months, but had sparingly used its air force near the capital,
presumably to avoid isolating its supporters there.
But
analysts say that rampant defections and rising rebel capabilities have
lessened the regime's ability to take back and hold rebel areas, making
air strikes its most effective way to fight back.
Monday
was supposed to be the fourth and final day of an internationally
sanctioned cease-fire to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid
al-Adha, one of the holiest periods of the Muslim calendar. But violence
marred the truce almost immediately after it was to go into effect on
Friday and continued apace through the weekend.
U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he was "deeply disappointed"
that the warring parties didn't respect the cease-fire and called on the
divided international community to unite to stop the bloodshed.
"As
long as the international community remains at odds, the needs, attacks
and suffering will only grow," he told reporters in South Korea.
Envoy
Lakhdar Brahimi, who represents the U.N. and the Arab League and
presented the plan, told reporters in Moscow that he'd keep trying to
lessen the violence and "put an end to it."
World
powers remain divided on how to stop Syria's crisis, with the U.S. and
many Arab and European nations calling for Assad to step down while
Russia, China and Iran continue to back the regime. But with the sides
largely stalemated on the battlefield and little international appetite
for military intervention, few expect the war to end soon.
Anti-regime activist say more than 35,000 people have been killed since the anti-Assad uprising started in March 2011.
The holiday cease-fire was the first international effort in months to try to stop the violence, and it accomplished little.
The
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which compiles daily
death tolls based on contacts inside Syria, said more than 500 people
had been killed during the four-day holiday. It said more than 80 people
were killed Monday and that the number was likely to rise further.
Prior to the holiday, about 150 people were reported dead each day.
But in a change, Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Observatory, said the number of airstrikes spiked on Monday.
"Today
has seen the most intense air raids across Syria since the start of the
uprising," he said, estimating there were more than 60 airstrikes
nationwide by early afternoon.
He said the airstrikes sought to compensate for recent regime losses on the ground.
Muhieddine
Lathkani, a London-based member of the Syrian National Council
opposition group, said the air attacks were a result of the regime's
"total despair" and reflected the military's inability to recapture
rebel areas.
Among the hardest hit areas was
the northern town of Maaret al-Numan, which rebels seized earlier this
month only to face heavy retaliation from the military. Amateur videos
posted online Monday showed dozens of men combing through huge swaths of
rubble, occasionally finding wounded people covered in cement dust and
carrying them off for treatment.
Other videos
showed fighter jets screaming through the sky and dropping bombs over
Damascus suburbs including Yabroud, Hazza and Harasta.
Videos
from the poor neighborhood of Hajar al-Aswad in south Damascus showed
what activists said were people killed by regime shelling. One video
showed a dead family of five, all wrapped in blankets. Others showed
three dead bodies in a small bus and the bodies of two young children
laid out on a floor.
Activist videos could not
be independently verified due to reporting restrictions in Syria, but
they appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the
events depicted.
Also Monday, a car bomb
exploded in the Damascus suburb of Jarmana, knocking balconies off of
residential buildings and sending firemen rushing to fight the blaze,
according to TV footage. The state news agency SANA said 11 people were
killed and 67 wounded. The Observatory said five people were killed.
SANA also reported a second car bomb in the area later Monday but did not give a number of the dead and wounded.
In
Turkey, about 150 members of the Syrian opposition met Monday to
discuss how to manage rebel-held areas and plan for a post-Assad future.
Abdelbaset
Sieda, president of the Syrian National Council, said the Syrian regime
was losing its grip on power and that the opposition must be prepared
to rebuild the devastated country.
Since the
start of the uprising, the Syrian opposition has failed to come up with a
united leadership and has been riddled by disagreements between
numerous factions over the role of Islam in the uprising, the best way
to topple Assad and other issues.
Exile
opposition leaders also have no control over and limited communication
with many rebel brigades fighting inside the country.
