51 massacres took place in April, says Syrian rights group

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

Wednesday 06 May 2015 - 12:21 Makkah mean time-17-7-1436 Photo: Anadolu Agency Damascus (IINA) – At least 499 civilians were killed, including 110 children and 79 women, in 51 massacres that took place in April, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said in a report released Tuesday. The London-based NGO, which opposes the Assad regime, said that Syrian army forces committed 50 massacres that mostly took place in Idlib in the northern part of the country, while the opposition forces committed one massacre "by mistake", Anadolu Agency reported. The network defines an attack, in which at least five people are killed, as a massacre. According to the report, regime forces committed 19 massacres in Idlib, 11 in Aleppo, seven in Daraa, four each in Rif Dimashq and Hama, three in Homs and one massacre each in Deir al-Zour, Raqqa and Hasakah. Regime forces reportedly used artillery, barrel bombs, mortar strikes and a number of execution techniques. Meanwhile, opposition forces committed a massacre when they randomly shelled al-Salamiya town in Hama province. Seven civilians were killed, including two children, and 18 people were wounded. Syria's civil war, now in its fifth year, has killed more than 220,000 people and forced almost four million to flee the country. AB/IINA