An explosion Sunday afternoon targeted one of the military bases of the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement in the al-Sukari district of Aleppo city, causing mostly civilian casualties.
Mohamed Nehad, a media activist from Aleppo, told Al-Souria Net that the explosion was caused by a car bomb which targeted the base of the Movement’s al-Abbas brigade. The blast damaged the base and a number of surrounding residential buildings, as well as a nearby medical clinic, which increased the number of civilian casualties.
Nehad said it was not known which group was behind the explosion, but most suspicions point to the regime carrying out the attack in order to sharpen conflict between the Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham. A dispute in the town of Salqin between Ahrar al-Sham and Nusra yesterday developed into clashes with light weapons before they agreed to a ceasefire and to appear before an independent judicial council.
Nehad said the explosion’s preliminary toll was seven casualties and a number of wounded, while civil defense teams were extinguishing the fire caused by the blast and pulling out people stuck beneath the rubble.
In another development, Russian warplanes carried out several air raids on towns and villages in the Idleb countryside Sunday morning, killing and wounding a number of civilians and causing destruction in residential areas.
Media activist Ghaith al-Sayed told Al-Souria Net that warplanes had been flying in the skies above the northern Idleb countryside since the early morning hours, and had hit the town of Turmanin with a raid that killed four civilians, including two children, and wounded four others. They also targeted the town of Kili and the route between the town of al-Dana and Babbila with cluster bombs. Warplanes also carried out three raids on the town of Jisr al-Shughour, without any casualties reported.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
