11 dead in Syria barrel bomb attacks

BEIRUT – At least 11 people, including three children, were killed on Thursday by explosive-packed barrels dropped from Syrian army helicopters over the town of Daraya, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two women were also among the dead, and others were injured in the attacks on the town in Damascus province.

In northern Aleppo province meanwhile, at least eight people were killed in regime air raids on the Aleppo city district of Qadi Askar, the Observatory said.

And the group reported at least six regime forces were killed when an Islamist rebel brigade blew up a building in the Karam al-Turab district, in southeastern Aleppo city.

Another 10 regime forces were killed in a blast targeting a second building in a village on the outskirts of the town of Khanaser in Aleppo province overnight, the NGO said.

Meanwhile, in central Homs province, the Observatory said at least 16 regime troops were killed in an overnight attack on an army checkpoint by Islamist rebels in an area west of Homs city.

Fierce clashes raged overnight pitting regime troops backed by pro-regime militants and fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the jihadist Al-Nusra Front and Islamist rebels in the area around Qusayr, the group said.

In Lebanon, a security source said two Syrians were wounded by gunfire from the Syrian side of the border in the town of Wadi Khaled.

The Red Cross and the Lebanese army worked to retrieve the two men, one of whom died of his wounds, the source said.

Gun and rocket fire from the Syrian side of the border regularly spills over into Lebanon, killing and injuring Lebanese and Syrians in the area.

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