London-Based Syrian Group: At Least 52 Killed in Violence

UN Monitors Find War-torn Town Burned and Deserted

London-based Syrian rebel group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll for the last 24 hours at 52 people, with reports of heavy fighting in the north and multiple car bombings in Damascus and Idlib.

The rebel group focused on regime killings, and Amnesty International issued a report corroborating some of them, saying they had evidence of crimes against humanity. The killings today appear to have been split pretty evenly between rebel and regime attacks.

In addition to civilian deaths in regime offensives, several were killed in a car bombing in Idlib, while a number of people were wounded in Damascus when a rebel bombing damaged a Shi’ite shrine.

UN monitors also finally reached the town of Haffah, the site of heavy fighting last week. The monitors reported that the coastal city was deserted and badly charred, with signs that government buildings were “set on fire from within.” They also reported signs of looting and remnants of heavy weapons.

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.