A/HRC/25/65
8.
The impact of barrel bombs causes the collapse of buildings around its explosion,
leaving neighbourhoods in ruins. Where such buildings are residences, this further
contributes to the mass displacement of civilians inside Syria and over its borders.
Idlib governorate
9.
On 14 July, a helicopter released three barrel bombs on Al-Bara market and
residential areas in Al-Bara. The first barrel hit a truck carrying fuel, causing a massive
blaze killing the driver and 5 nearby civilians. The bodies were burnt almost beyond
recognition. Others sustained serious injuries, including a loss of limbs. The other two
barrels hit residential buildings, destroying them but causing no casualties.
10.
In the last two weeks of July, Saraqib came under intense shelling and aerial
bombardment by Government forces. This attack included the heavy use of barrel bombs
on 18, 19, 20, 27, 28 and 31 July. In the course of this sustained assault, scores of civilians
were killed and many more injured. As buildings collapsed under the bombardments,
families were buried in the rubble. In the 31 July attack, four civilians, including women
and children, were killed when a barrel bomb exploded as it struck their house.
11.
Throughout August, the Jabal Al-Zawiya region in southern Idlib countryside was
bombarded by barrel-bombs. In two separate instances in August 2013, army helicopters
dropped barrel bombs into villages populated by significant numbers of civilians. In the
first attack, taking place in the second week of August, two children and a woman were
seriously injured. One of the children lost a limb to shrapnel. In the second attack, which
took place days later, the bomb hit a residential building. The building was flattened and its
occupants, a family of 6 children and their parents, were killed.
12.
On 3 August, shortly before the breaking of the Ramadan fast, a helicopter dropped
five barrels bombs on civilian houses in Balyoun village. The impact killed a 40-year-old
woman and injured three others, including a three-year-old boy. Three buildings were
flattened. Two days later, on 5 August, several barrel bombs were dropped on the market in
Balyoun, killing 20 people outright and injuring dozens. An unknown number of additional
civilians were killed when the building collapsed on them due to the force of the blast. A
large number of houses were destroyed, further fuelling the displacement of residents to
other areas.
13.
On 18 August, two barrel bombs were released over Bdama, a town to the southwest of Jisr Al-Shughour near the Turkish border. The first hit a residential neighbourhood,
killing four civilians including two boys, aged 13 and 7 years. An unspecified number of
people were injured and there was significant property damage. The second hit civilian
homes in a nearby neighbourhood, killing at least 5 and severely injuring 20 people. Further
casualties resulted from the collapse of houses near the impact site.
14.
On 25 September, barrel bombs were dropped on Maarat Hurmah from a helicopter
hovering high overheard. The village lies 13 km south of Ma’rat Al-Numan. Six people
were killed, including three women and two children.
15.
On 8 October, a Government helicopter dropped a barrel bomb on Bizabur, a village
just south of Ariha. In the same month, Government forces used barrel bombs on Al-Hobait
in southern Idlib. In one attack, the bomb landed on a family home, killing a woman, her
two teenage daughters and two sons.
16.
On 11 October, the Government launched a barrel bomb attack on Kansafra, a town
with approximately 30,000 inhabitants, situated 20km west of Maarat Al-Numan. The
explosion, the shrapnel generated and the collapse of approximately five building caused
mass civilian casualties.
51
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