AFP/Beirut
Syria’s air force killed 27 civilians yesterday in a raid on a market in an Aleppo provincial village, as a businessman became the second hopeful to register for the country’s controversial presidential election.
Meanwhile, a team overseeing Syria’s chemical weapons handover said Damascus has now surrendered 92.5% of its stockpile, even as UN Security Council members called for a fresh probe into alleged gas attacks.
The air raid in Atareb, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three children were among the dead, comes amid a massive aerial offensive on rebel areas across Aleppo province that began in mid-December.
The campaign has killed hundreds, mostly civilians, and forced thousands of families to flee their homes.
“The area that was struck today is a market area; that’s why there were so many civilians killed,” said Aleppo-based activist Abu Omar.
“The regime is hitting back against the civilians who support the revolt” against President Bashar al-Assad, he added.
Activists distributed video footage showing scenes of chaos, with bodies lying among mounds of grey rubble in what was clearly a market.
The amateur video shows a woman in a white headscarf screaming as she leaned over the body of a loved one.
Another image shows a man attending to a boy whose leg had been ripped off. It was unclear whether the child was alive or dead.
Human Rights Watch has accused Syria’s regime of “wreaking disaster” with its air strikes on the area.
Despite the violence, the regime plans to hold presidential election on June 3 that is expected to return Assad to office.
Regime-tolerated opponent Hassan Abdullah al-Nuri yesterday became the second candidate to register, a day after independent MP Maher al-Hajjar did so.
The exiled Syrian opposition has criticised as a farce the planned vote, which will be held only in government-controlled areas.
And the UN and Arab League have warned that the polls will deal a heavy blow to efforts for a negotiated peace.
Meanwhile, the combined Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-UN task team charged with overseeing the handover and destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal said 92.5% of the country’s stockpile has been surrendered.
Damascus had pledged to have all of its stockpile removed from the war-ravaged country by Sunday. The weapons are then due to be destroyed by June 30.
On Wednesday, Security Council members called for new claims of a chlorine gas attack in a rebel bastion in Syria to be probed.
Nigerian Ambassador Joy Ogwu, who holds the rotating presidency, said members “expressed concern about alleged reports about the use of chlorine gas in some of the towns, which left people dead and injured, and called for an investigation into this incident.”
There have been conflicting accounts of the alleged chlorine attack on opposition-held Kafr Zita, with the government and the opposition trading blame.
Under the terms of a US-Russian brokered deal that averted the threat of US military action last year, Syria agreed to destroy its chemical stockpiles.
The deal was reached after deadly chemical attacks outside Damascus last August that killed hundreds.
Meanwhile, Damascus lost all electrical power after rebels sabotaged the gas pipeline at Jayrud that feeds the power station supplying the capital, state television and activists said. The city has been blacked out several times in recent months for similar reasons.
In southern Damascus, the UN was allowed to distribute 300 parcels of food aid in besieged Yarmuk, after a 15-day lull, said UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness.
More than 100 people have died in the past year from food and medical shortages in Yarmuk, a Palestinian refugee camp.
But overall, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said access for foreign aid for millions of Syrians desperately in need has not improved, violating a Security Council resolution passed two months ago.
Almost 3.5mn people remain without access to essential goods and services, including life-saving medicines, in a “clear violation” of international law, said Ban.
Syria’s conflict is estimated to have killed more than 150,000 people, with millions having fled their homes.
People inspect a site hit by what activists said yesterday were barrel bombs dropped by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in the north
