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Saudi Arabia claims 'Operation Over,' but bombs keep falling on Yemen

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Shelling was reported in central and southern cities, and ground fighting has not let up

A Saudi soldier at the border with Yemen, fired a mortar shell toward Houthi rebels on Tuesday. (Photo: Reuters)

A Saudi soldier at the border with Yemen, fired a mortar shell toward Houthi rebels on Tuesday. (Photo: Reuters)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

Just hours after declaring the conclusion of “Operation Decisive Storm,” Saudi Arabia resumed air strikes against Yemen on Wednesday, signaling that the four-month bombing campaign and violence, which has already killed at least 944 people, is not yet over.

Media outlets report that a Saudi air strike hit the southern port city of Aden on Wednesday, in addition to bombings in the central city of Taiz, following heavy fighting.

Ground fighting between rebel combatants and forces aligned with Yemen’s government continued in Aden, and clashes are also reported in Taiz, Huta, and Daleh, leaving an unknown number of people dead and wounded, according to AFP.

People in Yemen, who have taken to social media to vividly document the war’s impact on their lives, confirm that the fighting and shelling has not let up.

The air strikes continue despite Saudi Arabia’s dubious announcement on Tuesday that “the objectives of ‘Operation Decisive Storm’ have been achieved” and the operation would come to a close at midnight on Tuesday.

However, the statement, which was publicly embraced by U.S. and Iranian officials, left numerous unanswered questions.

In the same announcement, Saudi Arabia said it is embarking on the newly-branded “Operation Restoration of Hope,” which would aim in part to combat “terrorism,” but it is not immediately clear what this campaign entails or whether Saudi Arabia plans to halt the bombings for a sustained period of time.

The government declared that Saudi Arabia has the right to “counter any military moves by the Houthis or their allies, and deal with any threat against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or its neighbors.”

Furthermore, it was not apparent whether Saudi Arabia’s announcement on Tuesday signals relief for Yemenis impacted by the humanitarian crisis gripping the country, fueled by bombings and fighting, as well as a Saudi-led siege that has prevented humanitarian aid, food, and water from reaching people in need as supplies run dangerously low.

In a statement released following Saudi Arabia’s announcement on Tuesday, Oxfam called for all parties to allow aid through. Oxfam’s facility storing vital humanitarian aid in the northern governate of Saada was bombed by Saudi-led forces, despite the fact that the organization provided detailed information about the location of the facility to the coalition, which includes the United States, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, and Morocco.

“Oxfam, alongside our partners, stands ready to respond to these needs and plans to reach as many of these people as we can,” said Grace Ommer, Oxfam’s Country Director for Yemen. “To help us and others do that that we call on all parties to the conflict to re-open land, sea and air routes into the country immediately in order to allow essential food, fuel and humanitarian provisions to reach those in desperate need.”

Meanwhile, an apparent overnight U.S. drone strike on the southern port city of Mukalla killed at least six people, witnesses said on Wednesday, according to AFP.

As humanitarian crisis mounts, explosion tears through residential area of Yemen's capital

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Attack follows fresh report Saudi coalition is bombing warehouses storing ‘vital’ aid

Smoke rises following a Saudi coalition air strike on a mountain overlooking Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. April 20, 2015. (Photo: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

Smoke rises following a Saudi coalition air strike on a mountain overlooking Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. April 20, 2015. (Photo: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

An explosion tore through a residential neighborhood in Yemen’s capital on Monday, as Saudi coalition air strikes continue to pound the city amid a mounting nation-wide humanitarian crisis worsened by dangerously low supplies of food, medicine, and water.

The coalition bombing on Monday unleashed an eruption through a civilian area in the Faj Attan area of Sana. Buildings were flattened, windows were broken, and according to witnesses, the event felt like an earthquake. Media outlets say the eruption may have been caused when an air strike hit a munitions cache.

Hospitals were reportedly inundated with the dead and wounded, and efforts to retrieve survivors from the rubble are ongoing, in an area that has suffered repeated bombings since the coalition bombings began March 26.

People in Yemen turned to social media to document the aftermath.

Since March 26, the Saudi-led bombing campaign has struck markets, schools, medical facilities, power plants, and refugee camps.

The international aid organization Oxfam said that, on Sunday, the coalition bombed a warehouse containing “vital humanitarian aid” in the northern governate of Saada.

“This is an absolute outrage particularly when one considers that we have shared detailed information with the Coalition on the locations of our offices and storage facilities,” declared Grace Ommer, Oxfam’s country director in Yemen, in a press statement released Monday. “The contents of the warehouse had no military value. It only contained humanitarian supplies associated with our previous work in Saada, bringing clean water to thousands of households.”

The war, which is led by Saudi Arabia and now includes the United States, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, and Morocco, is being waged against one of the poorest countries in the world.

So far, 18 of Yemen’s 22 governates have been affected by air strikes, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Meanwhile, fighting continues to intensify in the south, with the port city of Aden especially hard hit.

The World Health Organization reports that at least 767 people have been killed and 2,906 wounded in the conflict since March 19, in what are believed to be dramatic under-counts of the actual toll. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says at least 150,000 people have been displaced.

Aid organizations warn that coalition partners, including the U.S., may be guilty of war crimes, and Houthi combatants have also been accused of killing civilians.

Meanwhile, from within Yemen and around the world, people are calling for an end to the fighting.

Last week, U.S. and U.K. Yemen scholars published an open letter condemning the Saudi-led campaign:

This military campaign is illegal under international law: None of these states has a case for self-defense. The targets of the campaign include schools, homes, refugee camps, water systems, grain stores and food industries. This has the potential for appalling harm to ordinary Yemenis as almost no food or medicine can enter.

Yemen is the poorest country of the Arab world in per capita income, yet rich in cultural plurality and democratic tradition. Rather than contributing to the destruction of the country, the US and UK should support a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasefire and use their diplomatic influence to strengthen the sovereignty and self-government of Yemen. As specialists we are more than aware of internal divisions within Yemeni society, but we consider that it is for the Yemenis themselves to be allowed to negotiate a political settlement.

Erdogan won't restore Egyptian ties 'until Morsi freed'

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Turkey’s ties with Egypt strained since Abdel Fattah el-Sisi toppled Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

"Mr Morsi is a president elected by 52 percent of the votes. They should give him his freedom," said the Turkish president.

“Mr Morsi is a president elected by 52 percent of the votes. They should give him his freedom,” said the Turkish president.

by Al Jazeera

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, says Egypt should free ousted president Mohamed Morsi from prison and lift death sentences against his supporters before Ankara could consider an improvement in relations with Cairo.

Ties between the two former allies have been strained since then Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi toppled elected president Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

Egyptian security forces then mounted a fierce crackdown against the Brotherhood, killing hundreds of its supporters as they protested in Cairo, arresting thousands and putting Morsi and other leaders on trial.

“Mr Morsi is a president elected by 52 percent of the votes. They should give him his freedom,” Erdogan was quoted by Turkish newspapers as telling reporters as he returned from an official visit to Iran.

An official from Erdogan’s office confirmed his comments.

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood has close ties with Turkey’s ruling AK Party, which Erdogan co-founded and which has emerged as one of the fiercest international critics of Morsi’s removal, calling it an “unacceptable coup” by the army.

Erdogan’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, and his support of a Saudi-led military operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen in which Egyptian warships have taken part, had triggered speculation about a possible thaw in ties between Ankara and Cairo.

Egypt's Morsi sentenced to 20 years in jail

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Cairo court convicts toppled president of ordering the arrest and torture of protesters in 2012 clashes.

Morsi was overthrown and imprisoned by the military in 2013 [EPA]

Morsi was overthrown and imprisoned by the military in 2013 [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

A Cairo court has sentenced former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and 12 other defendants to 20 years in prison.

Morsi was convicted on Tuesday of ordering the arrest and torture of protesters in clashes outside the presidential palace in December 2012. The court acquitted the former president of murder charges that could have seen him face the death penalty.

Morsi also faces serious charges in three other cases, including an accusation that he passed intelligence to Qatar.

Mohammed Soudan, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and an official within its affiliated Freedom and Justice Party, told Al Jazeera that the trial was a “political farce”.

“The verdict is 100 percent a political verdict. Morsi, his advisers and supporters who are accused in this case were victims … police and army officers watched as the opposition attacked the presidential palace,” Soudan said.

“They killed 11 people and nine of them were supporters of Morsi. .. the verdict is a test for the protesters in the street, and also a test for the international community.”

Amnesty International also condemned the trial as a “sham”, and called for the release of Morsi and protesters.

“This verdict shatters any remaining illusion of independence and impartiality in Egypt’s criminal justice system,” Amnesty’s Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said in a statement released after the verdict.

Egyptian journalist, Yehia Ghanem, told Al Jazeera the Egyptian government was sending a message that it would not tolerate any opposition.

“The whole thing was calculated politically from the start. It sends a message to Egyptians and the rest of the world that there’s no future for any civil rule,” Ghanem said.

Morsi was deposed by his then military chief and Minister of Defence Abdel Fattah el-Sisi after mass protests against his rule in the summer of 2013.

Following the coup, the former president’s supporters launched a series of protests and sit-ins across the country culminating in a crackdown by security forces that left hundreds dead.

In the deadliest incident, at least 817 protesters were killed in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya Square when security forces opened fire on a sit-in. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the killings likely amounted to “crimes against humanity”.

Thousands have also been imprisoned, with many supporters of Morsi facing mass trials facing charges of involvement in violence.

At least 1,212 people have been sentenced to death since the start of 2014, including the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie.

New Zealand Plotted Hack on China With US's NSA

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Photo of New Zealand prime minister John Key, left, and Chinese premier Li Keqiang in Beijing, March 2014. (Feng Li/AP)

Photo of New Zealand prime minister John Key, left, and Chinese premier Li Keqiang in Beijing, March 2014. (Feng Li/AP)

by Ryan Gallagher and Nicky Hager

New Zealand spies teamed with National Security Agency hackers to break into a data link in the country’s largest city, Auckland, as part of a secret plan to eavesdrop on Chinese diplomats, documents reveal.

The covert operation, reported Saturday by New Zealand’s Herald on Sunday in collaboration with The Intercept, highlights the contrast between New Zealand’s public and secret approaches to its relationship with China, its largest and most important trading partner.

The hacking project suggests that New Zealand’s electronic surveillance agency, Government Communications Security Bureau, or GCSB, may have violated international treaties that prohibit the interception of diplomatic communications.

New Zealand has signed both the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, international treaties that protect the “inviolability” of diplomatic correspondance. The country’s prime minister, John Key, said in a recent speech on security that New Zealand had an obligation to support the rule of law internationally, and was “known for its integrity, reliability and independence.”

Last year, Key said that New Zealand’s relationship with China, worth an estimated $15 billion in annual two-way trade, had “never been stronger.” The relationship was not just about “purely trading,” he said, “it is so much broader and much deeper than that.”

In 2013, Key described a meeting with top Chinese officials in Beijing as “extremely warm” and told of how he was viewed as a “real friend” by the country’s premier, Li Keqiang.

At the same time, as minister in charge of the GCSB, Key was overseeing spying against China – which included the top-secret planned operation in Auckland, aimed at the Chinese consulate.

The hacking project is outlined in documents obtained by The Interceptfrom NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

A secret report called “NSA activities in progress 2013,” includes an itemtitled “New Zealand: Joint effort to exploit Chinese MFA [Ministry of Foreign Affairs] link.” The operation, according to another NSA document, had “identified an MFA data link between the Chinese consulate and Chinese Visa Office in Auckland,” two buildings about a five-minute walk apart on the city’s busy Great South Road.

The document added that the New Zealand agency was “providing additional technical data” on the data link to the NSA’s Tailored Access Operations, a powerful unit that hacks into computer systems and networks to intercept communications. The agencies had “verbally agreed to move forward with a cooperative passive and active effort against this link,” it said.

Passive surveillance refers to a method of eavesdropping on communications that intercepts them as they are flowing over Internet cables, between satellites, or across phone networks. Active surveillance is a more aggressive tactic that involves hacking into computers; in the case of the Auckland operation, active surveillance could have involved planting spyware in the Chinese government computers or routers connected via the consulate data link.

The documents do not reveal whether the operation was successfully completed, due to the timeframe that the records cover. In May 2013, Snowden left his Hawaii-based intelligence job and flew to Hong Kong carrying the cache of secret files. In April 2013, shortly before Snowden’s departure, “formal coordination” on the hacking plan had begun between the NSA and its New Zealand counterpart, according to the documents.

More New Zealand operations targeting China appear to have been ongoing at that time. In another April 2013 NSA document describing the agency’s relationship with New Zealand spies, under the heading “What partner provides to NSA,” the first item on the list is “collection on China.” New Zealand’s GCSB surveillance agency “continues to be especially helpful in its ability to provide NSA ready access to areas and countries that are difficult for the United States to access,” the report said.

China intelligence is handled inside the New Zealand agency by a special section that focuses on economic analysis. According to sources with knowledge of the agency’s operations, its economic section, known as the “IBE,” specialised in Japanese diplomatic communications from 1981 until the late 2000s. In recent years its focus has shifted to intercepted Chinese communications, the sources say.

In response to the revelations, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand told the Herald on Sunday that the country was “concerned” about the spying. “We attach great importance to the cyber security issue,” the spokesman said, adding that “China proposes to settle disputes through dialogue and formulate codes to regulate cyber space behaviors that are acceptable to all sides.”

China itself is known to be a major perpetrator of espionage on the global stage, and it has been repeatedly accused by the U.S. government of hacking into American computer networks. Last year, China was linked to an apparent intelligence-gathering hack on a powerful New Zealand supercomputer used to conduct weather and climate research.

But the Snowden documents have shown that countries in the so-called “Five Eyes” surveillance alliance – which includes New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia – are also heavily involved in conducting aggressive spying and hacking operations across the world.

Previous revelations have detailed how agencies in the alliance have hackedlaw–abiding companies, foreign government computers, and designed technology to attack and destroy infrastructure using cyberwar techniques. Last year, The Intercept revealed how the NSA had developed the capability to deploy millions of malware “implants” to infect computers and steal data on a large scale.

The NSA, the GCSB and the New Zealand prime minister’s office each declined to answer questions about this story.

GCSB’s acting director, Una Jagose, said in an emailed statement that the agency “exists to protect New Zealand and New Zealanders.” She added: “We have a foreign intelligence mandate. We don’t comment on speculation about matters that may or may not be operational. Everything we do is explicitly authorised and subject to independent oversight.”

Yemen: missile site hit by Saudi strike causes huge explosion in Sanaa

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Saudi Arabia and its partners have carried out some 2,300 airstrikes on Houthi targets across Yemen since launching the air campaign more than three weeks ago. (AFP/File)

Saudi Arabia and its partners have carried out some 2,300 airstrikes on Houthi targets across Yemen since launching the air campaign more than three weeks ago. (AFP/File)

by Al Bawaba

One of the largest Yemen explosions in weeks occurred in the capital Sanaa Monday afternoon when the Saudi airstrike hit a Scud missile base and blew out windows in surrounding homes, residents told Reuters.

The number of casualties caused by the blow was not immediately available, but residents told the news agency the blast was the largest they’d seen from the coalition since it began more than three weeks ago. Thick smoke rose into the air, and homes around the base were left with shattered windows from the force.

The base is located on the Faj Attan mountain beside Sanaa’s Hadda district, where it shares space with the presidential palace and several embassies. It’s been the site of heavy fire by Saudi-led air campaign, whose forces have targeted it and similar military and airport areas across Yemen since March 25.

Saudi Arabia says it’s carried out some 2,300 airstrikes across the country since then, targeting the Shiite rebel group known as the Houthis, who took over the capital last September and are now allied with Iran.

Egypt sentences 11 men to death over football riot

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Decision over 2012 Port Said riot has been referred to Egypt’s Grand Mufti for approval and the men may also appeal.

A defendant sits in a courtroom cage as a judge issues a verdict in the 2012 case involving violence by soccer fans [AP]

A defendant sits in a courtroom cage as a judge issues a verdict in the 2012 case involving violence by soccer fans [AP]

by Al Jazeera

An Egyptian court has sentenced 11 men to death for their involvement in a 2012 football riot in the city of Port Said in which 73 people died and at least 1,000 were injured.

However, Sunday’s decision still requires the approval of Egypt’s most senior religious authority, the Grand Mufti, and the men can also appeal, a process that may take several years.

“With the agreement of all members, the case will be sent to the Grand Mufti to give his Islamic opinion on the defendants’ fate,” Judge Mohamed al-Saeed Mohamed said, in a court session shown on television.

A later court hearing will be held on May 30.

In Egypt, the Grand Mufti’s decision is not binding but referral is needed in order to impose the death sentence.

In the incident, fans of the winning al-Masry team invaded the pitch seconds after the Port Said match with al-Ahly, Egypt’s top football team.

Most of the 73 people killed were trampled in the crush of the resulting riots or fell from terraces, according to witnesses and health workers.

UN seeks $274 million in Yemen humanitarian appeal

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Money needed to help 7.7 million people in the country over the next three months, UN says.

(AFP/File)

(AFP/File)

by Al Jazeera

The United Nations launched an appeal for almost $275m to aid 7.5 million people in Yemen over the next three months, as fighting intensifies in the south and air strikes continue in 18 of the country’s 22 provinces.

About 150,000 people have been displaced, 50 percent more than the previous UN estimate, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said on Friday, citing local sources.

The agency said health facilities had reported 767 deaths from March 19 to April 13, almost certainly an underestimate.

“Thousands of families have now fled their homes as a result of the fighting and air strikes,” the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Johannes Van Der Klaauw, said in a statement. “Ordinary families are struggling to access health care, water, food and fuel – basic requirements for their survival.”

The fighting had destroyed, damaged or disrupted at least five hospitals, 15 schools, Yemen’s three main airports, two bridges, two factories and four mosques, as well as markets, power stations and water and sanitation facilities, OCHA said.

“Public water services covering 1 million people are at serious risk of collapse,” the UN appeal document said. “Hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties, including people who have been direct victims of violence and those suffering severe burns from explosions.”

Even before the current conflict, Yemen was in a large-scale humanitarian crisis, with 15.9 million people – 61 percent of the population – estimated to require some kind of humanitarian aid.

The UN calculates it needs $273.7m to provide what Yemen needs. The largest part – $144.5m – aims to ensure food security for 2.6 million people. Yemen already had 10.5 million people classed as “food insecure” in December 2014. That number has now risen to 12 million and is expected to rise further as the fighting continues.

An estimated 100,000 tonnes of food are needed each month, but current World Food Programme stocks are limited to 37,000 tonnes, the appeal document said.

“Humanitarian food stocks in-country are insufficient to meet growing needs and the dramatic decline in commercial imports is threatening the wider food supply,” it said. “Farmers are missing an entire cropping cycle, which will further reduce food availability.”

Peace talks

Meanwhile, Iran has called for immediate peace talks between the warring parties, as rebels backed by Tehran battle loyalist forces supported by Saudi-led air strikes.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the appeal during a telephone call with UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday, the IRNA news agency said.

Iran has proposed a peace plan for Yemen that calls for a ceasefire followed by foreign-mediated talks by all sides.

“Mr Zarif referred to the Iranian four-point plan to end the crisis in Yemen, stressing the importance of an immediate dialogue between the Yemenis and said Iran was ready to help resolve this crisis,” IRNA said.

Ban called Thursday for an immediate ceasefire in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is bombing Houthi Shia rebels fighting forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who has fled to Saudi Arabia.

Doctors testify at UN over Syria chemical attacks

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Security Council members were shown footage of children dying following a reported chemical weapon attack in March. (AFP/File)

Security Council members were shown footage of children dying following a reported chemical weapon attack in March. (AFP/File)

by Andolu Ajansi

The U.N. Security Council listened Thursday to Syrian doctors who attempted to rescue children affected by alleged chlorine attacks in Idlib province of Syria.

Behind closed doors, Council members were shown footage of children dying following an alleged chemical weapon attack in Sarmin, near Idlib in northern Syria in March.

According to international watchdog Human Rights Watch, more than 200 civilians including 20 civil defense workers were exposed to toxic chemicals in several barrel bomb attacks between March 16 and 31.

In a press conference following the meeting with the doctors, U.S. representative to the U.N. Samantha Power said all members of the Security Council were moved by the footage.

Power called for action against the Syrian regime’s chemical attacks by overcoming division at the fifteen-member council.

A Syrian doctor Mohammed Tenari said most of the dead in the attacks were women and children. “Sounds of helicopters were heard during the attacks and bleach-like odors were felt,” said Tenari.

Another doctor Zaher Sahlul said all members of the council including Russia, China and Venezuela should hold those responsible accountable and called for action from the international community.

“Some representatives at the council burst into tears and what is important is to turn this emotional atmosphere into action,” said Sahlul.

On Friday, the doctors are due to visit Russia’s U.N. delegation in an effort to persuade Moscow not to use its veto against measures to be taken against the Syrian regime.

The Syrian opposition has repeatedly accused the Assad regime of using chemical and toxic weapons against civilians since August 2013, when a single attack reportedly killed more than 1,400 civilians.

The regime denies this accusation, pinning the blame on its adversaries.

The Syrian civil war, which entered its fifth year this month, has claimed more than 220,000 lives so far, according to the UN.

Report: Children killed in shelling of Damascus suburbs

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Syrian Observatory says Zabdean and Eastern Ghouta rocked by violence amid escalation in government air strikes.

A boy evacuates children from a site hit by what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by warplanes in Aleppo this month [Reuters]

A boy evacuates children from a site hit by what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by warplanes in Aleppo this month [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

At least 10 people have been killed according to a monitoring network after Syrian government forces shelled the southeastern suburbs of Damascus, an area that has come under intensive assault by regime jets and artillery in recent days.

A main roundabout in the town of Zabdean was shelled on Thursday, in which at least 10 people, including five children, were killed and nearby homes destroyed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

In another suburb of the Syrian capital – Eastern Ghouta – clashes have intensified between government forces and opposition fighters, leaving several people injured.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the Syrian Observatory’s reports.

Eastern Ghouta has been shelled intensively for the past 10 days, with reports of at least 36 surface-to-surface missiles and dozens of other mortars being used.

Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Jamjoom, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said there has been an uptick in violence over the past several weeks, especially in Idlib province.

“The city of Idlib became the second provincial capital to fall to the rebels. This was a group coalition which was led by al-Nusra Front. The city fell in the last part of March.

“In the intervening time, there has really been an upswing in the ongoing aerial bombardment by Syrian forces. It is getting bloodier and bloodier by the hour,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Yarmouk, south of Damascus, clashes have escalated between government forces and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, while government forces shelled the neighbourhoods of the area.

The Syrian Observatory has documented 1,709 air strikes by government warplanes and helicopters across Syria since the beginning of April 2015.

Regime fighter jets have reportedly targeted 725 areas in Damascus and its suburbs, Deraa, Idlib, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Der Ezzor, Lattakia and al-Hasakah.

At least 984 barrel bombs were dropped from helicopters on the same cities mentioned above in addition to Raqqa, the report said.

The death toll from air strikes has risen to 260 civilians since the beginning of April, which includes 81 children while 1,500 others were injured, the Syrian Observatory said.

Thousands have been displaced due to the attacks and many homes have been damaged or completely destroyed.

In Idlib alone, the Syrian Observatory documented 123 air strikes in the past 36 hours.

At least 38 people have been killed during those air strikes while dozens of others were injured.

The fighting in Syria, which began in 2011, has now killed more than 200,000 people, while nine million have been forced from their homes, according to UN data.

The Syrian Observatory released on Thursday a toll of almost 310,000 Syrians killed since the start of the conflict.

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