UN ‘horrified’ by deadly attack on Syrian market

The United Nations has expressed its horror at an attack by Syrian jets on a Damascus suburb on Sunday that killed around 100 people, many of whom were civilians.

UN humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien told reporters in Damascus that the targeting of civilians in the Syrian civil war was “unlawful, unacceptable and must stop”.

“I am particularly appalled by reports of air strikes causing scores of civilian deaths and hundreds injured,” the British diplomat said

Activists said on Monday that the death toll from the attack on the Douma market had risen to at least 96, which would make it one of the deadliest raids of the four-year civil war, which has so far left over 250,000 people dead.

At least two bombs struck a marketplace in the opposition-held enclave of Douma on Sunday, with the second one striking rescuers who had arrived to deal with the casualties. The raids continued on Monday morning, with activists reporting three new air strikes. A Syrian military source told the Reuters news agency that the air force had targeted the headquarters of the rebel group, Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam).

Syrian state television also reported that rebels shelled a government-held district of the northern city of Aleppo on Monday, killing 10 people and wounding 17.

O’Brien also condemned rival militants for having recently cut off the water supply in Damascus and Aleppo, affecting at least seven million people.

“It is unacceptable for those engaged in conflict to use access to water and other services as a weapon of war,” he said.

Syria’s military has frequently been accused of targeting civilian sites, including hospitals and bread queues. A report by Amnesty International published last week accused the Syrian government of committing war crimes against the 163,000 people living under siege in Douma and other towns in the Eastern Ghouta agricultural belt around Damascus.

According to the report, government forces carried out at least 60 air strikes on the area between Janaury and June 2015, killing at least 500 civilians.