Syria killed Aleppo residents with a new Russian-made “barrel bomb,” large old drums stuffed with explosives, oil and pieces steel that maim, kill and terrorize, the London Telegraph reported Sunday morning.
The homemade bomb spread devastation across a wide swath of the commercial hub, as seen in a video published by the London newspaper.
"The sound was like nothing else I've ever heard. It was an almighty whoosh," rebel fighter Mohammed Ibrahim told the Telegraph. The blast perforated his eardrums, but others, including his cousin, were killed by the bomb, which was dropped by low-flying helicopters.
Rebels are desperately trying to hold on to their strongholds as Syrian President Bashar Assad’s tanks ring the city and helicopters and warplanes bomb from above.
Assad continues to ignore world leaders, but United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon still is declaring that “the primary responsibility rest[s] on the government to halt its use of heavy weapons."
He told Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem at the Non-Aligned Movement conference in Tehran, "What is important at this time is that all the parties must stop the violence.” The NAM conference gave Syria an opportunity to blame Israel and the United States for the civil war, accusing them of supplying weapons to rebels.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the rebels are trying to target Syrian airbases to cut down the aerial attacks as well as capture antiaircraft missiles to down warplanes and helicopters.
Rebels claimed they took over an air base in eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border.