The death toll in a bombing of a bus convoy carrying evacuees from Syrian government-held territory has risen, said a monitor. The transfers are part of a massive relocation of people along political and sectarian lines.
Image: Reuters/A. Abdullah
Advertisement
Death toll rises in Syria evacuee bombing
00:29
This browser does not support the video element.
The death toll from Saturday's bus bombing in Syria has risen to 126, and includes 68 children.
The attack struck a bus convoy carrying residents from the northern towns of Fuaa and Kafraya as they waited at a transit point in rebel-held Rashidin, west of Aleppo.
At least 109 of the dead were evacuees, according to the British-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The evacuations are part of a broader relocation agreement between the Syrian regime and rebel forces involving thousands of people. The large numbers and ethnic make-up of those being relocated appears to represent a new phase of the six-year old civil war that has claimed nearly 350,000 lives.
Critics of the latest relocations say the string of evacuations, which could see some 30,000 people moved across battle lines over the next two months, amounts to forced displacement along political and sectarian lines.
On Sunday, a day after the gruesome bus attack, body parts and the belongings of evacuees - including clothes, dishes and even televisions - remained strewn about the scene of the attack.
The shattered buses were nearby, as was the shell of a pick-up truck that was apparently used to carry out the bombing.
No claim of responsibility
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and the key Ahrar al-Sham rebel group denied any involvement. The government blamed "terrorists" - a term it uses generally to refer to all of its opponents.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria to monitor the conflict, said hundreds more people were wounded in the blast.
It said a petrol station at the transit point was consumed in the explosion, adding to the number of victims.
The Syrian Red Crescent said three of its workers were among the wounded.
Maysa al-Aswad, a 30-year-old evacuee from Kafraya, told news agency AFP that she was sitting on one bus with her six-month-old son Hadi and 10-year-old daughter Narjis when the blast shook the parked convoy.
"Hadi was on my lap and Narjis on a chair next to me. When the explosion happened I hugged them both and we fell to the floor," she said. "I didn't know what was happening, all I could hear was people crying and shouting."
She added, "All I can think about is how we survived all the death during the last few years and then could have died just after we finally escaped."
bik/rs (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
Who's fighting in the Syria conflict?
Syria's civil war erupted out of the Arab Spring protests that swept much of the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. The conflict has since drawn in multiple warring factions from around the world.
Image: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
War with no end
Syria has been engulfed in a devastating civil war since 2011 after Syrian President Bashar Assad lost control over large parts of the country to multiple revolutionary groups. The conflict has since drawn in foreign powers and brought misery and death to Syrians.
Image: picture alliance/abaca/A. Al-Bushy
The dictator
Syria's army, officially known as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), is loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and is fighting to restore the president's rule over the entire country. The SAA has been fighting alongside a number of pro-Assad militias such as the National Defense Force and has cooperated with military advisors from Russia and Iran, which back Assad.
Turkey, which is also part of the US-led coalition against IS, has actively supported rebels opposed to Assad. It has a tense relationship with its American allies over US cooperation with Kurdish fighters, who Ankara says are linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighting in Turkey. Turkey has launched multiple military offensives targeting Kurdish militias.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/L. Pitarakis
The eastern guardian
The Kremlin has proven to be a powerful friend to Assad. Russian air power and ground troops officially joined the fight in September 2015 after years of supplying the Syrian army. Moscow has come under fire from the international community for the high number of civilian casualties during its airstrikes. However, Russia's intervention turned the tide in war in favor of Assad.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Tass/M. Metzel
The western allies
A US-led coalition of more than 50 countries, including Germany, began targeting IS and other terrorist targets with airstrikes in late 2014. The anti-IS coalition has dealt major setbacks to the militant group. The US has more than a thousand special forces in the country backing the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/A.Brandon
The rebels
The Free Syrian Army grew out of protests against the Assad regime that eventually turned violent. Along with other non-jihadist rebel groups, it seeks the ouster of President Assad and democratic elections. After suffering a number of defeats, many of its members defected to hardline militant groups. It garnered some support from the US and Turkey, but its strength has been greatly diminished.
Image: Reuters
The resistance
Fighting between Syrian Kurds and Islamists has become its own conflict. The US-led coalition against the "Islamic State" has backed the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias. The Kurdish YPG militia is the main component of the SDF. The Kurds have had a tacit understanding with Assad.
Image: Getty Images/A. Sik
The new jihadists
"Islamic State" (IS) took advantage of regional chaos to capture vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014. Seeking to establish its own "caliphate," IS has become infamous for its fundamentalist brand of Islam and its mass atrocities. IS is on the brink of defeat after the US and Russia led separate military campaigns against the militant group.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
The old jihadists
IS is not the only terrorist group that has ravaged Syria. A number of jihadist militant groups are fighting in the conflict, warring against various rebel factions and the Assad regime. One of the main jihadist factions is Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which controls most of Idlib province and has ties with al-Qaeda.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Nusra Front on Twitter
The Persian shadow
Iran has supported Syria, its only Arab ally, for decades. Eager to maintain its ally, Tehran has provided Damascus with strategic assistance, military training and ground troops when the conflict emerged in 2011. The Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah also supports the Assad regime, fighting alongside Iranian forces and paramilitary groups in the country.
