180 Syrians dead in Saturday assault

About 180, including 21 children, were killed by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday, the Revolution Council reported, amid a brutal army offensive to retake the country’s commercial capital Aleppo. Four buildings were set ablaze early in the day in Aleppo’s Salaheddin district as opposition fighters battled a long-anticipated army offensive. “It started at 4am (1:00 GMT) and eight hours later it’s still hell. This is madness,” an AFP correspondent reported on Saturday. Four helicopters launched salvoes of rockets before the rebel-held district, which has been surrounded by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, was bombarded by artillery and tanks. Families fled the fighting, clutching jars of preserves and bottles of milk and water amid food shortages. Three women sheltering in a Salaheddin basement were all armed with small pistols. “I would choose death rather than be attacked by the regime soldiers,” said one. Many panic-stricken women and children have fled the quarter since Friday for other parts of the city, leaving behind only groups of men. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that more than 20,000 people have been killed in Syria since the start of an anti-regime revolt in March 2011. “At least 20,028 people, among them 13,978 civilians and rebels, 968 army defectors and 5,082 members of the regime forces have been killed since the start of the revolt on March 15 of last year,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Observatory.