(Homs) Bombings on rebel areas in Syria continued Friday evening, causing the deaths of nine additional civilians, in response to a drone attack the day before against an officer promotions ceremony that involved more than a hundred dead.
In the Kurdish-controlled northeast, the Turkish army also carried out new raids.
The attack on the military academy in Homs, in the center of the country under central control, is one of the bloodiest against the army since the start of the war in 2011.
Dozens of victims’ relatives gathered early Friday in front of the Homs military hospital from where ambulances transported the officers’ remains to their final resting place.
PHOTO YAMAM AL SHAAR, REUTERS
Panic
Videos on social media showed victims falling to the ground and injured people in panic calling for help during the attack.
The attack left 89 dead, including 31 women and five children, and 277 injured, according to the authorities.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) gave a higher toll of 123 dead, including 54 civilians including 39 children, and some 150 injured.
Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas attended the funeral of around thirty soldiers and civilians. He participated in the ceremony Thursday but left before the attack, according to a witness and the OSDH.
The authorities proclaimed three days of mourning.
The attack has not been claimed. In 2017, Syrian forces regained control of Homs, a former rebel stronghold.
PHOTO LOUAI BESHARA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Jihadist groups that control part of Syrian territory and fighters from the Islamic State group sometimes use drones to attack Syrian forces and their Russian ally.
Russian President Vladimir Putin assured in a message of condolences to his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, that he “intends to continue (the) close cooperation with Syrian partners to fight against any form […] of terrorism”.
“Mr. Assad and other members of his family were trained at the Homs academy, which means that the attack is ‘closely aimed’ at power,” Aron Lund, from the center of reflection Century International.
-Riposte
Friday evening, the Syrian army, which had promised to “respond firmly”, resumed retaliatory bombings against the last rebel stronghold of the country, in the northwest, killing at least 24 civilians in nearly 24 hours, according to the OSDH.
In the evening, nine civilians, including five minors, were killed in multiple rocket launcher (MRL) bombardments in Idlib province, the NGO said.
In a hospital in the town of the same name, staff seemed overwhelmed by the influx of injured people, according to an AFP correspondent.
The streets were almost deserted, with residents hiding in their homes amid rumors of new strikes.
Russian aircraft also continued their raids on the Idlib region. Earlier in the day, a child was killed by a Russian strike, according to the NGO.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern, and U.N. special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen called Thursday for “immediate de-escalation.”
Started in 2011, the conflict in Syria has left more than half a million dead and divided the country.
In the northeast where the Kurds have established an autonomous administration, Turkey carried out a series of raids on infrastructure on Friday, for the second consecutive day, targeting the main gas power plants.
These new strikes bring the death toll from two days of bombing to 15 dead, including eight civilians, according to Kurdish officials, who gave an initial death toll of 16 dead.
The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) responded on Friday by targeting two bases controlled by Turkish forces and pro-Ankara factions in western Hasakah province.
A member of the Turkish special forces, injured in a missile attack against a Turkish military base in northern Syria, has died, Turkish authorities announced Friday.
Turkey claims to have acted in retaliation for an attack which targeted the Interior Ministry in Ankara on Sunday, injuring two police officers.