BEIRUT

Syrian barrel bombs kill 11 in defiance of U.N. resolution

The Syrian government is still indiscriminately bombing civilians with explosives-filled barrels in defiance of a U.N. Security Council resolution, an international human rights group said Wednesday.

The Human Rights Watch statement came as the Security Council was expected to meet for a fifth round of reporting on the resolution – and at least 11 people were killed by the bombs overnight.

February’s resolution demanded a halt to all attacks against civilians and indiscriminate shelling and aerial bombardment – including the use of so-called barrel bombs – in populated areas. The crude weapons – barrels packed with explosives and scraps of metal that are pushed out of helicopters – cannot be precisely targeted. They have caused widespread civilian casualties as they hit homes, schools and open markets.

The New York-based group says it has documented 650 strikes on rebel-held neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo since the resolution’s adoption. It noted that opposition fighters also carry out indiscriminate attacks, including mortar strikes and car bombings.

Barrel bombs on Aleppo have killed more than 2,000 people this year, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists.

ISTANBUL

Women share their laughter to protest official’s remarks

Women in Turkey have taken to social media to protest against comments by the country’s deputy prime minister that “women should not laugh aloud in public.”

Women were sharing photos on Twitter of themselves laughing Wednesday after Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc’s comments that not laughing out loud is among requirements of being an honorable woman.

– From news service reports

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