Echoing the UN Commission of Inquiry’s February 20 findings on the range of regime atrocities against Syrians, Human Rights Watch and the Syrian Network for Human Rights confirmed in late February - for the third time in less than one week - the Assad regime’s continued, widespread use of barrel bombs.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights estimates that the Assad regime has used barrel bombs more than 5,000 times. These shrapnel-filled oil drums, equipped with a fuse, are dropped from low-flying airplanes or helicopters and have killed and injured thousands of Syrians.
These credible reports from late last month highlight the daily horrors facing Syrians, and further expose Bashar al Assad’s insulting and blatant lies to the media and his citizens that regime forces don’t use these crude and vicious weapons.
"The Assad regime inflicts daily terror on the Syrian people with barrel bombs, which have killed an estimated 12,000 people, mainly civilians,” said State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki.
To bring an end to these horrors, we remain committed to holding the Assad regime accountable for its crimes against the Syrian people and to working towards a negotiated political solution that stops the bloodshed and secures a future of freedom, justice, and dignity for all Syrians.
