A/HRC/31/68 38. North of Aleppo city, fighting has continued along multiple unstable front lines, pitting a collection of anti-government armed groups battling ISIS pushing from the east, government forces coming from the south, and more recently SDF from the west. For civilians who have remained in the area, aerial bombardments by pro-government forces have added a further layer of suffering. On 12 December, a rocket attack in Atarib killed 20 civilians. One week later, a plane attacked a civilian convoy, killing civilians. In November and December, Azaz suffered multiple strikes that resulted in scores of civilian casualties. Many of buildings destroyed or damaged during the attacks contained no military objectives. 39. In November and December, Syrian ground forces – heavily supported by Syrian and Russian aerial bombardments – sought to retake parts of western Homs lost to ISIS a few months earlier. Pro-government forces struck Huwwarin and Qaryatayn on 2 November. While accounts suggested there was a nearby ISIS checkpoint or security station, the projectile struck a bread storage facility, killing more than 20 civilians. On 8 and 9 November, pro-government forces launched aerial assaults on Al-Sawwanah alSharquiyah, killing several civilians, including two children. No deaths of fighters were documented. 40. Government forces also launched aerial attacks on localities under the control of anti-government armed groups in Homs. In the early evening of 26 September, a missile fired by a government plane struck a playground in the Al-Waar neighbourhood of Homs city, killing 20 children and injuring 50 others. Before a ceasefire was reached on 8 December, the Government had not permitted medical supplies into Al-Waar for three years, which limited the treatment of those who had survived the initial explosion. 41. On 15 October, an attack on Al-Ghantu village killed 47 civilians, including 12 children, all from one family that had sought shelter together during the air strike. On the same day, pro-government forces struck the nearby town of Teir Maalah, hitting a bakery. Some 12 civilians were killed, as well as a local commander of the Free Syrian Army. Progovernment radio, reporting on the date of the attacks, referred to Russian and Syrian strikes on both localities. While an assessment of the proportionality of the attack cannot be made on the basis of the information available, the Commission has grave concerns about the large number of civilian deaths. 42. In Idlib governorate, areas under the control of anti-government armed groups and Jabhat al-Nusra were targeted by pro-government forces. In some attacks, no military target was recorded or there was a disproportionate number of civilian casualties. Two attacks on Jisr al-Shugur – on 1 October on Omar Ibn Al-Khattab mosque (see annex II) and on 12 October on a market – resulted in significant civilian casualties. On 2 and 29 November, pro-government forces struck a bus station in Maarat al-Numan and a vegetable market in Ariha. While there are anti-government armed groups operating on the outskirts of Ariha, there was no information to suggest the presence of targets of sufficient importance to justify the resulting civilian casualties. 43. Government forces in Rif Damascus continued to bombard areas inhabited by civilians. In December 2015, in western Ghutah, government forces escalated their military operations between Darayya and Moadamiyah in order to cut all lines of communications between them. Ground forces shelled Darayya from positions nearby, killing civilians who were in their homes or on the street. 44. The heaviest recorded strikes launched from ground and air were on Duma and on villages to its south. Between August 2015 and January 2016, more than a dozen separate strikes resulted in mass civilian casualties. Bombardments by government forces struck hospitals, markets and several mosques. 8