Unacceptable acts

It seems that every time Damascus suffers a military defeat at the hands of one opposition group or another, and retreats from more territory, it takes its anger and frustration out on innocent civilians, dropping barrel bombs and killing scores.

That is what happened Saturday, again, when such aerial strikes killed over 140 people.

Barrel bombs do not discriminate; even when ostensibly used to take on the opposition, they usually kill more civilians than insurgents, and this is deplorable.

“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,” said UN envoy Staffan de Mistura after Saturday’s bombing of this area that left 84 civilians, including children, dead.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air strikes by the regime throughout Syria killed at least 141 people on Saturday, not including 43 people, including Daesh terrorists and their families, in the jihadist-dominated town of Al Shadadeh.

It is appalling that innocent people should be caught in the crossfire. They already suffer tremendously from the war in their country. Not knowing who to fear most and which way to go to be safe must be terrible.

Damascus must know that its indiscriminate bombing of public places will increase the death toll, yet it does not seem to care.

Neither should it expect to gain loyalty from Syrians or escape the censure of the international community.

With the country in shambles and extremist terrorists more and more assertive and in charge of bigger swathes of territory, if the Syrian regime wishes to win the support of its population, it should stop killing them en masse, as it has been doing for over four years.

Moscow, the main ally and supporter of Damascus, should use its offices to make Damascus understand that the way to win people over is by adopting confidence-building measures and not by unleashing its war machine against innocent civilians.

Once fighting stops, for Syria to get back on its feet, there will be need of an all-inclusive form of government founded on true democracy and respect for human rights.

But for the fighting to stop, all sides need to understand that bullets are no solution; negotiations are.

But negotiations, and peace, seem unfortunately faraway goals in Syria.