Syrian opposition activists and a war monitor say five people died and 21 were wounded on Sunday as the government continued its air campaign against the region.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, says two of the dead were members of the same family.

The day before, an airstrike hit a busy market killing 11 people.

The weekend's deaths add to the fast-growing list of victims. By last Friday over 100 people had been reported dead in the previous 10 days. About a quarter of those were children.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet blamed the attacks in rebel-held areas on the government and its allies.

But the attacks were met with "apparent international indifference" she said.

Syria and its ally Russia have both denied targeting civilians in air strikes in the Idlib region.

Like the opposition activists and the war monitor, Michelle Bachelet also blames the attacks on the Syrian government and its allies.

Bachelet is also critical of the "failure of leadership by the world's most powerful nations".

The rising death toll in the north-western province of Idlib had been met with a "collective shrug" and the conflict had fallen off the international radar. In the meantime the UN Security Council was paralysed, she says.

She says in her view the civilian targets were unlikely to have been accidental and warned that those carrying out the attacks could be charged with war crimes.

"Intentional attacks against civilians are war crimes, and those who have ordered them or carried them out are criminally responsible for their actions," she says.

Source

• RNZ News
• Starts Stripes
• Image: Politico

War planes and ships launched over 100 missiles at three chemical weapons storage and research facilities near Damascus and Homs.

The airstrikes sought to punish President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack in the rebel-held suburb of Douma, east of Damascus, on 7 April.

Forty-two people died in the attack.

According to the Pentagon, the airstrikes aimed to take "the heart out of" of President Bashar Assad's chemical weapons programme.

They say the strikes targeted a research centre in Damascus, along with a chemical weapons storage facility and command post west of Homs.

At the same time, the Pentagon acknowledges the Syrian government can probably still attack with chemical agents.

In a joint statement, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, the Melkite-Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem have denounced the strikes.

Their statement says they condemn "the brutal aggression that took place [during the weekend] against our precious country … under the allegations that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons."

They say the airstrikes are a "clear violation of the international laws and the UN Charter", and described them as an "unjustified assault" on a sovereign country that is a member of the UN.

"It causes us great pain that this assault comes from powerful countries to which Syria did not cause any harm in any way.

"The allegations of the USA and other countries that the Syrian army is using chemical weapons and that Syria is a country that owns and uses this kind of weapon is a claim that is unjustified and unsupported by sufficient and clear evidence."

Pope Francis has called for peace in the region.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Boston Globe
• BBC
• ABC
• The Tablet
• Image: Daily Star