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115 Syrians Killed in Three Days of Regime Air Strikes and Bombardment, In Addition to Unknown Numbers in US Air Strikes

April 26, 2016 

 

Syrian regime air strikes on Khan Shaykhoon, April 26, 2016	Syrian regime bombardment of Reef Dimashq, April 26, 2016

 

Aerial bombardment kills 11 civilians in Aleppo city

SOHR, April 26, 2016

Aleppo province: 11 civilians including 2 children were killed by aerial bombardment targeted the neighborhoods of al-Hedaria, al-Ferdous, and al-Maghaeir, the number of the dead is likely to rise due to the serious injuries. Warplanes also raided al-Layramon and al-Rashdin.

Clashes in Homs countryside and food aids reach al-Rastan

SOHR, April 25, 2016

Homs province:

clashes took place between regime forces and rebels backed by Jabhat al-Nusra around Homs-Salamia road what devastated a vehicle for regime forces, reports of losses in regime side. 1 rebel was killed by clashes against regime forces in southern Aleppo. SOHR activists were informed that the aids vehicles have entered al-Rastan, including 35 vehicles carrying food and medical aids amid targeting the area with shells by regime forces what targeted a vehicle and wounded the driver and 2 others.

Continued clashes and bombardment targets several areas of Reef Dimashq

SOHR, April 25, 2016

Reef Dimashq province:

 Clashes continued between regime forces and rebels around Bala area, reports of losses in both sides. rebels targeted regime forces in al-Merej area. regime forces bombarded areas of Zabdin, Bazin, Der al-Asafir and other areas of the eastern Ghouta. A child was killed by rebel shells targeted Qadana area in Damascus. Areas of Zabdin were exposed to bombardment with more than 10 mortars fired by regime forces

Rebels commit a massacre against civilians in Aleppo

SOHR, April 25, 2016

Aleppo province:

Rose to 19 including 3 children at least, the number of civilians who were killed by shells targeted al-Maisalon bridge, al-Shahbaa, al-Hamdania, al-Jamilia, al-Medan, al-Merdian, al-Martini, el-Ezaa, al-Ashrafia, Sa’d allah al-Jabri yard, al-Forqan mosque, and Jam’ia al-Zahraa neighborhoods, while no less than 120 others were wounded, the number of the dead is likely to rise. Rebels also targeted Shekh Maqsoud neighborhood with shells what caused material damages in civilians properties.

Human losses in Reef Dimashq, Dar’a, and Idlib

ASOHR, pril 24, 2016

Reef Dimashq province: 3 rebels were killed by targeting their locations by regime forces around al-Zabdani.

Dar’a province: 2 rebels were killed by clashes against Shohadaa al-Yarmouk faction which is allied to IS, the rebels were beheaded.

Idlib province: A child was killed while others were wounded by a grenade exploded in a camp near Termanin town in the northern eastern countryside.

8 killed by aerial bombardment on al-Sakhour neighborhood

SOHR, April 24, 2016

Aleppo province:

Warplanes bombarded areas of al-Bab city, no casualties reported. a child and 3 others were killed while others were wounded by aerial bombardment on al-Sakhour neighborhood, what rose the number of civilians who were killed in al-Sakhour to 8 including 2 children and 2 women.

13 killed by aerial bombardment in Duma city

SOHR, April 23, 2016

Reef Dimashq province:

Rose to 13 the number of civilians who were killed by bombardment by regime forces on Duma city in the eastern Ghouta, the number of the dead is likely to rise according to the serious injuries. Clashes continue between regime forces and Islamic battalions in Bala town in the eastern Ghouta what killed 5 rebels and a number of soldiers. Shells fell on Dahya al-Assad, no reports of casualties.

http://www.syriahr.com/en/  

60 casualties, including 17 children and citizen women in 3 days of escalated shelling on Aleppo’s neighborhoods

SOHR, April 25, 2016

A state of caution-calmness prevail Aleppo since the dawn of today, disrupted by the launch of shells on regime forces controlled areas in the neighborhoods of Telal, Sheikh Abu Bakr, Bab al-Faraj and Jam’eyyat al-Zahra’a after three days of escalated shelling and repeated massacres carried out by warplanes,  helicopters, missiles , homemade shells, and explosive cylinders, since the dawn of the 22nd of April 2016 until the end of yesterday’s night the 24th of April 2016,

Also the Syrian Observatory for human rights documented the death of 60 civilian citizens, including seven children under the age of 18, and 10 citizen women over the age of eighteen years, killed in airstrikes targeted areas controlled by factions in the eastern neighborhoods of the city, and in the shelling by the rebel and Islamic factions on regime forces’ controlled areas in the western neighborhoods of Aleppo.
 
Among the total documented number of casualties there are 45 persons, including 4 children and six citizen women killed in the airstrikes carried out by warplanes on areas in several neighborhoods of Aleppo, which also resulted in the destruction of tens of homes and buildings in the targeted neighborhoods, and injured tens of people, including children and citizen women.
 
 
Also the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of 15 civilians, including three under the age of eighteen and 4 citizen women over the age of eighteen, they were killed when tens of shells, homemade rockets and explosive cylinders on places controlled by the regime forces in Aleppo, in addition to injuring tens of other people including citizen women and children and damaged propriety.

http://www.syriahr.com/en/2016/04/25/60-casualties-including-17-children-and-citizen-women-in-3-days-of-escalated-shelling-on-aleppos-neighborhoods/  

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Military Strikes Target ISIL in Syria

US Department of Defense

SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 25, 2016 —

 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack and ground attack aircraft conducted three strikes in Syria:

-- Near Manbij, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Mara, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed four ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL supply cache and an ISIL vehicle bomb.

http://www.defense.gov/News

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Counter-ISIL Strikes in Syria

US Department of Defense

SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 23, 2016 —

U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterday’s strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 10 strikes in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike struck an ISIL weapons factory.

-- Near Al Hawl, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Ar Raqqah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL checkpoint.

-- Near Manbij, four strikes struck four separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed four ISIL vehicles.

-- Near Mar’a, a strike destroyed an ISIL staging area.

-- Near Washiyah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/741313/counter-isil-strikes-hit-terrorists-in-syria-iraq

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Military Strikes Continue Against ISIL in Syria

US Department of Defense

SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 22, 2016 —

U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterday’s strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted seven strikes in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes struck an ISIL bed down location and an ISIL bomb-making facility.

-- Near Manbij, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units.

-- Near Mar’a, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL mortar system, an ISIL vehicle, and two ISIL fighting positions.

http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/740693/military-strikes-continue-against-isil-terrorists-in-syria-iraq

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Up to 250 More U.S. Forces to Deploy to Syria, Pentagon Spokesman Says

By Lisa Ferdinando

DoD News,

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2016 —

Up to 250 additional U.S. personnel are being deployed to Syria to support local forces on the ground and build on successes of U.S. forces already deployed there in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Pentagon's press secretary said today.

The additional personnel include special operations forces and medical and logistics personnel, Peter Cook told reporters at the Pentagon. The forces are to build on the gains of 50 previously deployed special operators in Syria, he said.

During a speech in Germany today, President Barack Obama announced the deployment of the additional forces. He said the expertise of the special operations forces already on the ground in Syria has been critical as local forces drive ISIL out of key areas.

Important Connections

The 50 special operators have improved the picture of the battlefield and made important connections with local, capable forces, Cook said, and they have enhanced the military's targeting efforts in Syria.

The additional personnel will be establishing connections with capable forces on the ground, working on getting a better picture of the battlespace, and improving the intelligence and targeting assessment, Cook said.

"They will help our partners on the ground capitalize on their progress and increase the pressure on ISIL at this critical time," Cook said, adding Defense Secretary Ash Carter believes this deployment will make a "tangible" difference in the campaign to defeat ISIL.

The intent is not to have the forces on the front lines or engaged in direct combat, Cook said. Rather, he explained, they will be enabling and supporting local forces who have made gains against ISIL, and meeting with other capable forces to build on the momentum.

The spokesman added the U.S. forces will be in harm's way and will be able to defend themselves if they come under fire.

http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/742335/up-to-250-more-us-forces-to-deploy-to-syria-pentagon-spokesman-says

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Syrian food crisis deepens as war chokes farming  

Reuters. Tue Apr 26, 2016 4:28am EDT

ABU DHABI/HASAKA, Syria |

By Maha El Dahan

Syria's war has destroyed agricultural infrastructure and fractured the state system that provides farmers with seeds and buys their crops, deepening a humanitarian crisis in a country struggling to produce enough grain to feed its people.

The country's shortage of its main staple wheat is worsening. The area of land sown with the cereal - used to make bread - and with barley has fallen again this year, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told Reuters.

The northeast province of Hasaka, which accounts for almost half the country's wheat production has seen heavy fighting between the Kurdish YPG militia, backed by the U.S.-led air strikes, and Islamic State militants.

Farming infrastructure, including irrigation canals and grain depots, has been destroyed, according to the FAO. It said the storage facilities of the state seeds body across the country had also been damaged, so it had distributed just a tenth of the 450,000 tonnes of seeds that farmers needed to cultivate their land this season.

Farmers are also struggling to get their produce to market so it can be sold and distributed to the population.

The conflict has led to the number of state collection centers falling to 22 in 2015, from 31 the year before and about 140 before civil war broke out between government forces and rebels five years ago, according to the General Organisation for Cereal Processing and Trade (Hoboob), the state agency that runs them. Many of those lost have been damaged or destroyed.

The breakdown of the agricultural system means Syria could struggle to feed itself for many years after any end to the fighting, and need a significant level of international aid, the FAO says.

It has had a major impact on plantings; the area of land sown with wheat and barley for the 2015-2016 season stood at 2.16 million hectares, down from 2.38 million hectares the previous season and 3.125 million in 2010 before the war, and only around two-thirds of the area targeted by the government, said the FAO.

The U.N. organization said its planting information came from the Syrian government. The government itself has not made public the figures for 2015/16 plantings.

The agriculture ministry could not be reached for comment. A government source told Reuters that information on the 2015/16 crop area was still not ready for publication.

"What concerns us is not the fluctuations from one year to the other, it is the worrying overall downward trend," said Eriko Hibi, the FAO's main representative for Syria.

DEPENDING ON RAIN

The worsening wheat shortage is another hammer blow to a country where the population numbered around 22 million before the civil war but more than 250,000 have been killed in the fighting and millions have become refugees.

Last year, farmers sold just over 450,000 tonnes of wheat, a fraction of the 1-1.5 million tonnes that is needed to provide enough bread to government-held areas of the country alone, government sources and traders said.

Before the conflict, by contrast, Syria could produce 4 million tonnes of wheat in a good year, with around 2.5 million tonnes going to the state and the surplus exported.

The United Nations said in January that some Syrians were starving in besieged areas under the control of rebel forces or Islamic State, which it said were home to at least 400,000 people.

Faisal Hejji, a farmer in Ras al-Ain in Hasaka, said he had devoted 200 donnams (20 hectares) of land to wheat this season, down from 300 donnams before the conflict.

"War has made us lose a lot of the necessary inputs we need and when we do find them they are pricey," Hejji said. "We used to support one donnam of wheat with 50 kg of fertilizer but now this is missing," he added.

"Also, we are now depending more on rain rather than other irrigation methods."

NO SECURITY

His plight is typical of farmers across the country, according to the FAO, which estimated last year that Syria's wheat deficit for 2015 stood at around 800,000 tonnes. That deficit could widen every year should farmers continue to lack access to agricultural inputs and markets, it said.

"Many farmers don't want to be displaced or give up their land, they want to stay as long as they can and in order to do that they have to be able to produce their food and make ends meet," Hibi said.

She said it was still too early to tell what this year's wheat crop would be, as it depended on the weather. "So far it has been a bit drier but that may change," she said.

Syrian farmers benefited from the best rainfall in a decade last year and harvested around 2.4 million tonnes of wheat, significantly better than the drought-stricken year before but still around 40 percent lower than the pre-war average.

Hejji's land is located in a part of Syria where Kurdish groups declared their own government two years ago known as the self-administration. Yet he still sells his wheat to the state-run Hoboob, which he says is the only group capable of buying it at suitable prices.

"I go to the Hoboob agency in Hasaka or Qamishli to sell my wheat and I store small quantities for me and my family. Some farmers sell their wheat to middlemen but these traders also sell them ultimately to Hoboob," he said.

It is difficult to transfer wheat and other food from one province to another because of lack of security, Hibi said.

"I've seen a lot of fresh fruit wasted in some areas where just nearby people haven't seen fresh fruit for years."

(Reporting By Maha El Dahan in Abu Dhabi; Additional reporting by Rodi Said in Hasaka, Syria; Editing by Pravin Char)

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