In Syria, rebels unleashed suicide car bomb attacks, rockets and mortars on government-controlled western Aleppo over the weekend, killing at least 41 civilians, including 17 children. Each side accused the other of using poison gas. The U.N. special envoy for Syria called the attacks “relentless and indiscriminate” and said they could amount to war crimes. Residents described a nightmarish assault that left families buried alive.
Wounded man: “My children are still under the rubble! My children are under the rubble! Someone get them out! The building collapsed. Oh, God!”
About 1,500 rebel fighters are massed along Aleppo’s western edge. The counteroffensive is aimed at breaking a government siege of the city’s east, where more than a quarter-million people face severe shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine.