BEIRUT: Syrian warplanes blitzed yesterday a string of opposition-held districts in Aleppo, a watchdog said.
At least five people died and an unknown number were hurt when the warplanes staged waves of bombing raids from early morning on the Marjeh, Sakhur, Hanano, Tariq Al-Bab and Sheikh Khodr neighborhoods, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“Many buildings were destroyed and the fighters used anti-aircraft guns” against the warplanes, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground for its information.
Elsewhere in the conflict-torn country, five civilians were killed and dozens hurt when regime forces shelled fighter’s areas of the capital Damascus, the Observatory said.
Deadly violence also flared in Daraa province, where a mother and her child were killed, as well as in the central province of Hama, the Observatory said, giving an initial toll of 15 people killed countryside yesterday.
It said that on Sunday 160 people were killed — 108 civilians, 22 fighters et 30 government soldiers — adding to a toll of more than 27,000 people killed since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March last year.
Meanwhile, Lakhdar Brahimi began yesterday what he called a “very difficult” mission to bring peace to Syria with talks in Egypt, as he made his first official trip to the region.
Brahimi, replacing former UN chief Kofi Annan who quit over divisions in the UN Security Council on the deadly violence that has gripped Syria for nearly 18 months, arrived in Cairo late on Sunday.
“I realize it’s a very difficult mission, but I think it is not my right to refuse to give whatever assistance I can to the Syrian people,” Brahimi told reporters after talks with Arab League chief Nabil Al-Arabi.
“I am at the service of the Syrian people alone,” he said, adding: “I will go to Damascus in a few days and I will meet officials and civil society members in the capital and outside.”
Asked if he would meet Bashar Assad, Brahimi said: “I hope to but I don’t know.”
Brahimi’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said late Sunday that the date of the envoy’s visit to Syria would be fixed once his program of meetings is finalized.
The Algerian former foreign minister also met with Egyptian President Muhammad Morse.
Expectations that he will have any more success than Annan are low, however.
The veteran troubleshooter has already said he was “scared” of the mission awaiting him in Syria, and has described the bloodshed there as “staggering” and the destruction as “catastrophic.”
More than 27,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict erupted in March last year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The United Nations puts the death toll at 20,000.
Syrian jets pound Aleppo
