Indiscriminate barrel bomb falls on residential building in Aleppo

RAINING BARRELS: Ten people were killed, including women and children, while dozens were injured after Syrian regime forces dropped a barrel bomb on the opposition-controlled neighborhood of Sha’ar in Aleppo on Monday. The collapse of a large building followed the explosion.

Sha’ar “is considered to be one of the most populated areas in Aleppo,” an activist named Abu Firas told Syria Direct from Aleppo on Monday. “It is a neighborhood of commerce, with a number of markets,” he said.

The video, broadcast by local activists, shows the magnitude of the devastation that followed as a result of the explosion, as the rubble from the destroyed building spills into the streets.

The barrel bomb hit a building in front of a local mosque named the Light of Martyrs. Just days before, a demonstration was held at the mosque condemning the presidential elections that will begin Tuesday in Syria.

The bombing also comes in the wake of a major opposition attack against government soldiers in Aleppo this past weekend. The rebels tunneled underground and set off a clandestine bomb, killing at least 20, according the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. This is the second attack of its kind in the city by the rebels over the past month, after bombing the downtown Carleton Hotel, which was being used as a government army base.

Meanwhile, almost two thousand people have been killed by aerial attacks from the government in Aleppo since the beginning of this year.

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