At least 53 people have been killed in a ferocious attack on a market in northern Syria that left rescuers and survivors digging late into the evening to search for residents buried under the rubble.
There were at least three air strikes on the market at Atareb, a town in the Aleppo countryside swollen by the arrival of refugees from nearby battles, in the latest breach of a “de-escalation” agreement that has proven largely unenforceable.
Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, is controlled by the government.
The attack tore market-goers apart, according to media published by the activist-run Thiqa news agency. A police station by the market was also struck, killing an officer, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
At least 53 people were killed according to the Observatory, which said the market was hit by three separate strikes. There were at least five children and three women among the dead.
The Observatory said it could not determine whether the Syrian government or its chief backer, Russia, was behind the attack.
Thiqa said at least 47 people were killed and more than 90 wounded.
Atareb and the countryside around it remain outside the control of the Damascus-based government which says it wants to retake all of Syria following six years of civil war that has killed at least 400,000 people and displaced 11 million others — half the country’s population.
The war began after a violent crackdown against demonstrations calling for reforms in 2011. It has drawn in fighters from across the world.
President Bashar Assad says he is fighting a war on terror.
Moscow’s intervention on the side of Assad in 2015 turned the tide in his favour.
Atareb and the opposition-held countryside in north-west Syria are meant to be protected by a “de-escalation agreement” brokered earlier this year by Russia, Iran, and Turkey, the main backers to the Syrian government and the opposition.
The US and Russia have recently renewed efforts to find a settlement for post-war Syria.
With their common enemy, the Islamic State group, nearing defeat, the two superpowers find themselves again on opposite sides of the conflict, with Moscow backing Assad and the US offering rhetorical support to armed opposition groups fighting the government.
In a joint statement on Saturday, the two countries said “de-escalation areas” were an “interim step” towarda restoring peace in Syria and that there could be “no military solution” to the war.
It drew a sarcastic response from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the two superpowers could start by withdrawing their own troops from the war and instead support holding elections in Syria.
He said there were five Russian and 13 US bases in Syria, plus a 14th under construction in the northern city of Raqqa, now administered by a US-backed Kurdish party that Turkey says is an extension of a separatist group operating within its own borders. Turkey considers the group a terrorist organisation.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here