UN, UK condemn Saturday's barrel bomb attacks on Aleppo

The UN envoy to Syria and the British foreign secretary both condemned Sunday the Assad regime’s barrel bomb attacks on Aleppo in northwestern Syria.

At least 136 people, including women and children, were killed Saturday in Syrian army airstrikes on the city, according to the Syrian Revolution General Commission.

“The news of aerial bombing by Syrian helicopters on a civilian area of the Aleppo neighbourhood of Al-Shaar deserves the most strong international condemnation,” UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said in a statement. “The use of barrel bombs must stop.”

“All evidence shows that the overwhelming majority of the civilian victims in the Syrian conflict have been caused by the use of such indiscriminate aerial weapons,” de Mistura added.

Barrel bombs are improvised containers typically packed with shrapnel and explosives. Their rudimentary nature means they are unguided and are believed to have killed thousands of Syrians.

“This is further shocking proof of the horrific and indiscriminate methods the Assad regime is using to kill and injure innocent civilians, including children,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a statement.

Syria has been gripped by constant fighting since the Assad regime launched a violent crackdown in response to anti-government protests in March 2011, triggering a conflict that has killed more than 220,000.