October 18th, 2012
10:05 AM ET

Flattened buildings, charred bodies, a child's tears: the aftermath of Syrian rockets

Rockets slammed a residential road in northern Syria Thursday, spewing rubble in all directions and terrifying everyone around.  As the smoke cleared and the echoing booms faded, more than 20 bodies were found amid the chaos.

The strikes happened in Idlib, a Syrian province that has seen deadly violence for months on end, according to opposition activist Mahmoud Abdallah.

A Syrian fighter jet zoomed overhead and dropped several rockets on the neighborhood in the city of Maraat Numan, killing mostly civilians, Abdallah said.

Twenty-five bodies were found - 15 of them charred beyond recognition, said Mohammed Kanan, spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, who visited the site of the attack.

“The first thing I saw was a child crying over a relative buried under the rubble," he said.  "The scene was horrific. The smell of burning bodies and the dust was overwhelming.”

Three multi-story buildings were flattened.  A nearby mosque housing displaced people was severely damaged, Kanan said.

The area is known to be home to many who have fled other parts of Syria in the bloody conflict.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian fighter jets also targeted and destroyed a field hospital in Idlib, although it had been evacuated in the morning.

A Syrian military building, meanwhile, may have come under attack Thursday.  The observatory reports a huge blast in a Damascus suburb, and says early reports indicate it was near a building used by the Palestine Branch - part of Syria's military intelligence operation.  There are reports of casualties, the observatory says.  There were no reports about the incident on state-run media.

Palestine Branch facilities have been struck by explosions before.

Already Thursday, at least 167 people have been killed across Syria, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.  They include four women and eight children.

On state-run media, Syria said its forces inflicted "heavy losses on terrorists in many provinces."

It also complained that the involvement of foreign countries "in supporting and arming the terrorist groups in Syria has recently increased."

Throughout the now 19-month-long crisis, the Syrian government has blamed terrorist groups for violence in the country.

Follow the latest coverage of the Syrian conflict at CNN.com/world.

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Filed under: Syria • World
soundoff (9 Responses)
  1. banasy©

    *Sigh*

    October 18, 2012 at 10:54 am | Report abuse |
  2. aceblazin0555

    My heart goes out to the Syrian people. I pray to the Almighty for peace & tranquility in that region. Salaam.

    October 18, 2012 at 11:30 am | Report abuse |
  3. Andrew

    As much as I don't like our country getting involved in other parts of the world. There's need to be a force to go in and knock this crap off. Such as huge loss of human life it's really sad that it has gone on this long.

    October 18, 2012 at 11:42 am | Report abuse |
  4. Russell Hammad

    The US lake of military support to the syrian people is making America look pretty much approving of what Asad is doing to the Syrian people,and when they one they will never forgett that and they will never be friendly to America,that is my worry.

    October 18, 2012 at 11:56 am | Report abuse |
    • Joe

      The lack of international support comes from the fact that Russia & China keep blocking any resolutions that could help the people. Talk to them.

      October 18, 2012 at 4:13 pm | Report abuse |
  5. No Fly Zone

    War is expensive. At least a no-fly zone would be nice. Knock out their planes and choppers to even the "playing," field a little. Assad has got to be killing members of his extended family with all he's doing. I wonder if he realizes that. I wonder if he cares.

    October 18, 2012 at 12:12 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Shahanshah Akbar-e-Azam

    praise be upon the brave brothers of Islam. Allah Akbar!

    October 18, 2012 at 12:25 pm | Report abuse |
  7. wheels

    So the end game of this civil war for Syria will be what.....?? Assad keeps power and the country rebuilds itself? There shouldn't be a single civilian living in this country after this is settled...seriously the population should be 0..if you somehow managed to survive this brutal civil war, get out of there and never return.

    October 18, 2012 at 12:49 pm | Report abuse |
  8. Rowlandson1324

    Syria civil war is better than Nigeria Bombing Churches.

    October 18, 2012 at 6:33 pm | Report abuse |
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