Syria Kills 50 in Airstrikes on ISIS-Held Towns

Rebels Say Most of Slain Were Civilians

Syrian warplanes and attack helicopters have pounded a pair of ISIS towns near Aleppo over the past 48 hours, killing around 50 people, mostly civilians according to rebels familiar with the situation.

The attacks included barrel bombs, which have been a tactic common to both Syrian and Iraqi military, and criticized harshly for their inaccuracy. Basically oil barrels filled with explosives, they often careen far off course.

Locals complained that one of the strikes hit a marketplace, which isn’t uncommon to barrel bomb strikes, or similar rebel strikes with their own inaccurate weaponry.

The Syrian military has aimed to expand its territory into Aleppo Province recently though fighting along the main highway connecting Aleppo to Damascus has slowed that progress. ISIS is similarly trying to expand in Aleppo, pressing the Kurdish city of Kobani along the Turkish border.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.