Funerals held for victims of assault on army academy throughout commencement ceremony.
Syrians have began burying the handfuls of individuals killed in a large drone assault on a army academy within the western metropolis of Homs.
Coffins draped in Syrian flags lined the streets exterior Homs’ army hospital on Friday, as a army band performed somber music and troopers saluted.
On Thursday, a number of drones attacked a commencement ceremony within the academy’s courtyard, the place households had gathered with the brand new officers.
Syria’s Well being Ministry mentioned no less than 89 folks have been killed, together with 31 girls and 5 youngsters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which displays the Syrian battle, estimates the toll at greater than 120. Syria has declared three days of nationwide mourning.
There have been no claims of duty for the assault, and the Syrian Ministries of Protection and Overseas Affairs and Expatriates blamed what they described as “terrorist” teams, with out offering particulars. They promised to reply “with full drive”.
Syrian authorities forces fired artillery shells into rebel-held territory within the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo all through the evening and early Friday morning, in response to the Observatory and the civil protection group often called the White Helmets, which operates within the opposition. -occupied territories.
Thursday’s assault was an unprecedented use of drones in opposition to authorities forces within the struggle, which started with protests in opposition to President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 and culminated in a battle that has killed a whole lot of 1000’s of individuals and displaced hundreds of thousands.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, who has reported extensively on Syria, mentioned the assault was “a serious safety breach, a blow to the Syrian regime.”
“It has been years since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have been focused in such an operation within the coronary heart of government-controlled territory,” she mentioned.
“It appears that evidently the Syrian regime is blaming the opposition as a result of their planes began attacking residential areas within the opposition-controlled enclaves within the northwest of the nation shortly after this assault,” she added.
United Nations Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres “expressed deep concern” over the drone strike in Homs and “experiences of retaliatory shelling” in northwestern Syria, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric mentioned.
In the meantime, Russian President and ally of the Syrian authorities Vladimir Putin despatched his condolences to al-Assad, the Lebanese channel Al-Manar reported on Friday.
