The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) revealed on Thursday that the Syrian regime has dropped nearly 82,000 barrel bombs in nine years, killing 11,087 civilians, including 1,821 children.
The 35-page report describes barrel bombs as a primitive, barbaric weapon, adding that their use is a disgrace even among the world’s weakest armies. It notes that the Syrian regime has used a vast range of weapons over the past nine years in its efforts to crush the popular uprising that turned into an internal armed conflict in 2012, with the regime gradually introducing newer and ever more terrible weapons. The report further indicates that what particularly distinguishes the Syrian regime’s brutality over its peers is its use of chemical weapons and barrel bombs.
The report provided the latest data from the Syrian Network for Human Rights about the Syrian regime’s use of barrel bombs, adding that SNHR uses the term ‘barrel bombs’ to refer collectively to all locally manufactured containers filled with explosive materials.
The report reveals that the Syrian regime has extensively used this weapon for several reasons; the first of these is the absence of any deterrent response by the UN Security Council and the international community to its use of such a primitive and barbaric weapon; second is that barrel bombs are crude, low-cost, homemade devices, simple to manufacture, with a highly destructive capacity, equivalent to about seven mortar shells per barrel bomb; third is the Syrian regime’s indifference to the indiscriminate effects of this weapon, and its failure to distinguish between civilians or combatants, since this barbaric weapon is often dropped from helicopters, depending on the principle of freefall and thus untargeted meaning that its use amounts to a war crime, and lastly the Syrian regime does not care about the reputation of the army institution, but rather uses it as a tool in maintaining power.
The report details the record of the Syrian regime’s use of barrel bombs since the first use of this weapon documented by SNHR in July 2012 up until April 2021 and the deaths and attacks on vital civilian facilities resulting from this use. The report also outlines incidents that occurred after the publication of the previous extensive report that the SNHR issued in 2017.
The report details the stages of manufacturing barrel bombs, starting from manufacturing the outer casing of the barrel bomb, then filling the barrel bombs with explosive materials, consisting mainly of ammonium nitrate, then installing the detonator. The report reveals that SNHR has documented hundreds of incidents in which the Syrian regime used unfamiliar objects to fill these lethal bombs, such as iron ball bearings, anti-tank mines and explosive hoses, in addition to its use of barrel bombs containing poison gases in 93 attacks, and barrel bombs containing incendiary substances believe to be napalm in four attacks. The report presents a map showing the sites of the most prominent facilities where barrel bombs are manufactured.
The report notes that it took the UN Security Council about a year-and-a-half after the Syrian regime first began using barrel bombs, to adopt Resolution No. 2139 on February 22, 2014, which condemned the use of barrel bombs, mentioning them by name, and calling on the Syrian regime to cease their use. The Syrian regime has violated this resolution hundreds of times, however, with the Security Council signally failing to take any additional steps or implement the resolution it issued, with the report documenting that nearly 81,916 barrel bombs have been dropped by the Syrian regime’s helicopters and fixed-wing warplanes from July 2012 up until April 2021 ; of these, 21,013 barrel bombs were dropped before the adoption of Security Council Resolution No. 2139, and 60,903 barrel bombs were dropped since its adoption.
The report provides charts showing the cumulative index of barrel bombs’ usage and their distribution by years and across Syrian governorates, as well as the distribution of the record of barrel bombs across governorates by years. SNHR’s data analysis shows that the governorates of Damascus and Damascus Suburbs saw the highest number of barrel bombs used (approximately 29% of the total record), followed by Aleppo governorate (approximately 21%), then Daraa (approximately 14%) and Idlib (approximately 13%). According to years, meanwhile, 2014 saw the highest number of barrel bombs dropped, followed by 2015 then 2013, with these three years seeing the Syrian regime Air Force dropping at least 51,948 barrel bombs in total, meaning 64% of the total documented number of barrel bombs used.
The report documents the deaths of 11,087 civilians, including 1,821 children and 1,780 women (adult female), as a result of the Syrian regime’s use of barrel bombs from July 2012 up until April 2021, with the death toll among children and women constituting approximately 33% of the total death toll of civilian victims, which is a very high percentage that confirms the attacks targeted civilians. The report also provides charts showing the cumulative index of the death toll and its distribution by years and across Syrian governorates, as well as the distribution of the death toll across governorates by years. The analysis of the data showed that the largest death toll was documented in Aleppo governorate (approximately 52%), then Idlib (approximately 17%) and Daraa (approximately 11%). By years, meanwhile, the highest death toll was in 2014 and then in 2015, with the civilian death toll in these two years being approximately 69% of the total death toll.
As the report reveals, barrel bombs were used in at least 728 attacks on vital civilian facilities, including 104 attacks on medical facilities, 188 on schools, 205 on mosques and 57 on markets. The report provides the distribution of this record by years, which showed that the largest record of attacks on vital civilian facilities was in 2015, followed by 2014 then 2016.
(SNHR)
Zaman Al Wasl
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