Free Republic

Bashar al-Assad denies dropping barrel bombs in Syria, but evidence overwhelmingly says otherwise. The use of barrel bombs has fueled the mass exodus of refugees from the country. Videos continue to be posted to YouTube showing helicopters in Syria dropping what appear to be the unpredictable weapon. Human rights group Amnesty International found that more than 3,000 civilian deaths between January 2014 and March 2015 occurred in Aleppo from barrel bombs. The makeshift weapon is an oil drum filled with explosives, fuel, and metal fragments. They are dropped haphazardly from helicopters with little control for targeting. The United Nations previously...

There are growing fears that Syria's second city, Aleppo, could be taken over by Islamic State (IS) as fighting to the north between government and rebel forces intensifies. With the military being driven out of the adjacent province of Idlib by a newly-formed rebel alliance, the Army of Conquest, focus has shifted to the fate of Aleppo, an ancient trading hub near the border with Turkey that has been a battleground for the past three years.

The UN Security Council expressed outrage on Friday over a recent wave of barrel-bomb attacks in Syria's northern Aleppo province that have left scores dead, AFP reports. Russia, Syria's ally which has vetoed past resolutions against the Bashar Al-Assad regime, joined in a statement from the 15-member council condemning "all violence against civilians, and civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities." The statement was issued following a behind-closed-doors report on Thursday by senior UN aid official John Ging, who said the attacks on Aleppo were continuing. Ging estimated that some 3,600 people have been killed by barrel bombs in Aleppo alone since...