Airstrikes Kill 53 Civilians in North Syria Market

Town Is Held by Nusra Front Forces

Another catastrophic civilian toll has emerged from the Syrian War on Monday, when warplanes carried out three separate strikes against the marketplace in the town of Atareb, in Aleppo Province, killing at least 53 people.

It’s unclear who carried out the strikes, though pro-rebel media attributed the strikes to three Russian warplanes. The area is within a de-escalation zone, which is meant to make it immune to targeting, though it belongs to al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front, which is not part of the ceasefire which created such zones.

The attacks destroyed the market more or less entirely, destroying over 100 shops, and leading to a day-long effort by rescue workers to try to recover survivors from the wreckage. Exactly how many are wounded is still unclear.

Why the market was targeted remains unclear, and of course there have been no statements, since no one has taken credit for the airstrikes, leaving which nation’s air force conducted the strikes a matter of speculation.

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.