Syrian warplanes bombard rebels with 60 airstrikes

BEIRUT — Syrian warplanes launched 60 airstrikes against rebel targets around the country on Monday, the most intense air raids across the country since the uprising began 19 months ago, according to anti-regime activists. The suburbs of the capital Damascus were particularly hard hit.

Activists said at least 500 people were killed over the four-day period ending Monday when a U.N.-backed truce was supposed to be in effect. They said the death toll for Monday so far has reached 80 and would likely rise further. In the period leading up to the truce, there was an average of about 150 deaths per day in the civil war, according to activists.

A government official said a car bomb killed 10 people on the outskirts of Damascus and TV footage showed firemen fighting the blaze amid wide destruction after parts of balconies fell on cars parked on a residential street. As smoke billowed, a woman was seen running away with children from the area of the blast and electricity cables dangled from poles. Activists said the air raids were launched both before and after the car bomb and were still under way.

Another car bomb exploded in a Damascus neighborhood where rebels are active, and state-run news agency said there were many casualties.

Monday was supposed to be the fourth and final day of a U.N.-backed cease-fire to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, one of the holiest periods on the Muslim calendar. But the truce was violated almost as soon as it was supposed to take effect on Friday and violence continued unabated over the holiday weekend.

The army warned late Sunday night that it will strike “remnants of terrorists with an iron fist” after they “repeatedly violated the cease-fire.” The regime of President Bashar Assad often refers to those waging the uprising as “terrorists.”

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said airstrikes on Monday were by far higher than on any other day since the conflict began in March last year.

“Today has seen the most intense air raids across Syria since the start of the uprising,” he said, estimating there were more than 60 airstrikes nationwide by early afternoon Monday.

He said the Syrian military was trying to compensate for recent losses on the ground with airstrikes.

Muhieddine Lathkani, a London-based member of the SyrianNational Council opposition group, said the air attacks were a result of the regime’s “total despair” and reflect the military’s inability to recapture areas it lost to the rebels.

Mohammed Saeed, an activist based in the Damascus suburb of Douma, said members of the rebel Free SyrianArmy were shooting at the planes but failing to bring them down.

A Syrian official said the car bomb in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana also wounded 41 people and heavily damaged shops and apartments in the area heavily inhabited by Christians and members of the Druse minority sect.

The Observatory also reported clashes and shelling in other parts of the country including the northwestern province of Idlib that borders Turkey, where it said warplanes carried out 11 air raids on several villages. Amateur videos showed warplanes in the skies, then giant mushroom clouds of smoke after the missiles hit.

On Friday, at least 15 people were killed in a Damascus car bomb, state media said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep disappointment at the collapse of the cease-fire and urged more unity from the international community. Speaking in South Korea, he said the U.N. is trying to ease Syria’s humanitarian woes and find a political solution to the crisis.

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