MESOP : “DIALOGUE-PARTNER ASSAD CONTINUES AS A MASS MURDER – BARREL BOMBS ON IDLIB

Mesop News Roundup: Monday, March 30 – Regime bombs Idlib after loss to rebelsRegime helicopters dropped four barrel bombs on a central point in Idlib city on Monday after the government lost the provincial capital over the weekend to a coalition of rebel brigades called the “Victory Army,” reported pro-opposition news agency SPC.

Even though the bombs fell on the Security Square, home to a series of government offices, there were few injuries, Raed Salih, head of the Civil Defense in Idlib, told Syria Direct Monday. Salih credited the lack of casualties to the Civil Defense’s cooperation with rebel brigades in rapidly evacuating civilians.

Regime forces began bombing Idlib on Saturday following a rebel takeover of the second provincial capital in Syria to fall out of regime hands. Rockets and mortars launched from the nearby regime-controlled city of Ariha hit Idlib Sunday, reported pro-opposition Zaman al-Wasl.

Following the attacks, the Islamist group Ahrar a-Sham threatened to retaliate in kind against the nearby Shiite villages of Fuaa and Kafariya, in a statement released Sunday.

Pro-government newspaper Al-Watan reported Sunday that “army strikes laid low hundreds of militants, dead and injured” in Idlib, “including field leaders in Jabhat a-Nusra.”

Opposition news outlets have accused the regime of using chlorine gas in some of the latest bombings, a claim echoed by Civil Defense leader Raed Salih.