Assad forces blamed for attack on displaced Syrians' camp

SBS World News Radio: An air strike on a camp housing displaced Syrians in the north of the country has killed dozens, further straining the shaky ceasefire.

Assad forces blamed for attack on displaced Syrians' campAssad forces blamed for attack on displaced Syrians' camp

Assad forces blamed for attack on displaced Syrians' camp

Monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the dead include women and children.

And there's been more bloodshed across the country despite international efforts to broker and implement a truce.

Tents are burnt to the ground and cooking utensils lie smouldering in the wreckage.

Firefighters battle to douse the blaze amid the carnage left by the air strike which hit a refugee camp near the town of Sarmada, near Syria's border with Turkey.

The attack set people on fire in the camp, one man says, God burn them, as they burned these people.

The air strike drew a swift rebuke from Obama Administration spokesman, Josh Earnest.

"There is no justifiable excuse for carrying out an air strike against innocent civilians who have already once fled their homes to escape violence. These individuals are in the most desperate situation imaginable, and there is no justification for carrying out military action that's targeting them."

Sarmada lies about 30 kilometres west of Aleppo, where a 48-hour ceasefire had been brokered by the US and Russia.

While the United States welcomes the truce after fighting in and around the city over the past few weeks killed hundreds of civilians, Josh Earnest says it's concerned by continued violations.

"There are also other places in the country where we have not seen the steadfast commitment to the cessation of hostilities that both the regime and opposition have signed on."

Saudi Arabia has also backed the ceasefire, Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir urging all sides of the international community to exert their influence over the combatants.

"The endgame is very clear. There will be a Syria without Bashar al-Assad, period. He's not going to be around. It could be months, it could be years. At the end of the day he will be gone. There will be a new Syria that will be democratic, that will be run by the Syrians without Bashar al-Assad."

One of the Syrian President's key backers, Russia, was putting on its own show to win over hearts and minds in the Syria conflict.

Renowned conductor Valery Georgiev led a surprise concert in the historic Roman ampitheatre at Palmyra.

"Dear friends, the orchestra of the Mariinksy Theatre will perform for you now and we will have Chaconne of Johann Sebastian Bach played by Pavel Milyukov, winner of the Tchaikovsky international competition. This piece expresses the greatness of the human spirit and I think it is appropriate to play it here today."

The concert was held a month after Russian air strikes helped push IS militants out of the ancient Syrian city.

President Vladimir Putin addressed the crowd via video link from his Black Sea residence.

"There is hope not only for the revival of Palmyra as a heritage of all mankind, but also the deliverance of modern civilisation from this terrible contagion, from international terrorism. And for this, it is necessary that any success in fighting against it must be perceived by all as a collective victory."

The symbolism of the performance was unmistakable, staged in the same ampitheatre used by militants to execute prisoners only months ago as IS destroyed parts of the ancient city.

 

 


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3 min read

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By Gareth Boreham


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