147 Dead across Syria as Bombs Tear into Heart of Aleppo

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
  • W460
  • W460
  • W460

Car bombs tore Wednesday through Syria's second city Aleppo, leaving dozens dead, as violence across the country killed 147 people, monitors said.

Two blasts went off in quick succession near a military officers' club around Aleppo's Saadallah al-Jabiri Square, ripping off a hotel's facade and flattening a two-story cafe, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

A third exploded soon after at an entrance to the Old City in Bab Jnein, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a military official said.

A man whose family owns a coffee shop overlooking the square described the sound of the blasts as "terrifying".

"I ran to my parents' room and found their faces covered in blood," said the man, identifying himself only as Omar. "Most of the people rescued from under the rubble of the hotel were soldiers."

The Observatory said at least 48 people were killed and almost 100 wounded, adding "most of them were regime troops". An official said 37 people died.

"We heard two enormous explosions, as though the gates of hell were opening," Hassan, an employee of a nearby hotel, told AFP.

"I saw thick smoke, and I helped a woman on the pavement whose arms and legs were completely dislocated," said Hassan.

The owner of a shop a block away from the club said: "I pulled out from the rubble a child less than 10 years old who has lost a leg."

After destroying two tanks overnight, rebels attacked a political intelligence branch in Aleppo as well as a market where a large number of troops were posted, said the Observatory.

"The rebels are now attacking regime troops in the heart of the city," its director Abdel Rahman told AFP.

"This is part of the decisive battle, and the regime can no longer claim to control the city," he added.

Aleppo, with a population of 1.7 million people, has been one of the focal points of the conflict since mid-July, when the army promised the "mother of all battles" to clear the city of rebels.

Since Thursday, the fighting has become more intense, spreading at the weekend into the centuries-old, UNESCO-listed souk in the historic heart of Aleppo and sparking a fire that damaged hundreds of shops.

Bombings have increasingly become part of the unrest ravaging Syria, which began in March 2011 as peaceful protests for reform but has since escalated into an armed insurgency, with more than 31,000 people killed, according to activists.

On July 18, rebels carried out a massive bombing on a complex in Damascus, killing four security chiefs, including President Assad's brother-in-law and the defense minister.

Troops have since pushed the rebels to the outskirts of the capital, but they have lost control of several border crossings and are battling to retake Aleppo.

In the northwestern province of Idlib, rebels killed at least 15 troops when they attacked and destroyed three army posts in the village of Bdama, near Jisr al-Shughour, said Abdel Rahman.

Army shelling and helicopter gunfire killed at least 16 people including three children in Sahn, a village in the central province of Hama where rebels have a strong presence, he added.

U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is due back in the region this week to try to revive talks aimed at ending the bloodshed, although the U.N. says it is still unclear if he will be able to enter Syria.

Comments 12
Default-user-icon MUSTAPHA O. GHALAYINI (Guest) 03 October 2012, 12:57

tahaluf el akallyet

Missing salafi_slayer2 03 October 2012, 13:38

This is the "freedom" that the FSA terrorists (buddies of March 14) are bringing to Syria. I hope you're proud of them!

Default-user-icon free_lebanon (Guest) 03 October 2012, 15:17

الله ياوي الجميع و ما يضل حجر عحجر
FT and all log live lebanon and the rest go to hell

Thumb shab 03 October 2012, 17:28

It was a dispute between two car delaers, or a gas canister, filthy militia type

Missing salafi_slayer2 03 October 2012, 17:28

aragon, the kind of language you are using just shows what kind of a "human being" your are. Very civilized and a good reflection of those Wahhabi insurgents / terrorists that you support

Thumb bigsami 03 October 2012, 18:12

Schizo Farsi BSThrower has the balls (more like ovaries) to make such comments. Go back to mourning the loss of you HA butchers who are killing innocent civilians! Worshiping/cheering for scums who are allies of a dictator who is killing his people only shows us all what a regressed stone-aged Farsi you are!

Thumb bigsami 03 October 2012, 18:57

.........."so-called rebels, hired from Libya and Chechnya to come and kill." Just for fun I will go along with your fairytale Farsi schizo Motormouth....but tell me this: Why don't we see these 'so-called rebels' torture/butcher/decapitate/ruthlessly execute people/captured prisoners like your beloved Assad forces do? Why do these 'so-called rebels' treat these captured traitors of Syria in a humanitarian way? Try to figure this out if you one-celled brain is capable you lost cause for a human being!

Default-user-icon karim_m1 (Guest) 03 October 2012, 20:12

This is Wahhabi Salafi lie, Syria is safe and calm and it's been like that since many many Tuesdays ago. General Aoun said so and he's never ever wrong.

God bless General Aoun for his staunch Syrian patriotism, defense of Syria's democracy, and opposition to logic and common sense.

Missing peace 03 October 2012, 22:09

so funny to see FPMers and hezbis coming to the rescue of a regime that only butchers its own people but never did a thing to liberate their country...
so funny to see them coming to the rescue of a regime that harmed lebanon more than israel ever did..

Thumb libnani 03 October 2012, 22:24

Syria and Israel both destroyed our nations. Physically and psychologically. I don't know why we should dislike one over the other.

Missing peace 03 October 2012, 22:44

yes both, but M8 always forget syria they even thanked it for its good in their logic they should have thanked israel too, same horrors they did...

Thumb libnani 03 October 2012, 22:22

FT, although I usually disagree with you, and although you have made offensive comments such as "we should nuke Tripoli" and have brushed off my claims that all Lebanese are brothers due to my offensive comments, I voted a "thumbs up" for this one. I will explain why.

Although my family supports Future movement and Saad Hariri, it is sick comments like Phil's that distance me from claiming "March 14". I think fanatics from Kataeb are just as dangerous as Hezb Alla. Fanatics from all the Lebanese political parties are dangerous. Comments like this shows me Lebanon is not progressing, and more Lebanese will leave Lebanon, and yet still contribute to the sectarianism that plagues our nation.

R.I.P. Lebanon, it was fun while it lasted.

Down with March 14 and March 8, and to the rich Lebanese destroying our countries for the sake of their Saudi/Iranian/American/French/etc. signed paychecks.