Barrel bomb
They are typically made from a large barrel-shaped metal container that has been filled with high explosives, possibly shrapnel, oil or chemicals as well, and then dropped from a helicopter or aeroplane.
[1] Due to the large amount of explosives (up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb)), their poor accuracy, and indiscriminate use in populated civilian areas (including refugee camps), the resulting detonations have been devastating.
They strapped white phosphorus smoke grenades to the cylinders to set them alight.During the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009), barrel bombs were used by government forces.
William Dalrymple reported that the Sri Lanka Air Force, lacking modern bombers, used Chinese Y-12 transport planes to drop improvised 300 kilograms (660 lb) bombs packed into wooden barrels onto civilian areas in the northern peninsula of Jaffna.
[24] The use of barrel bombs in the Syrian Civil War was first identified in August 2012, in particular through the video forensic work of Eliot Higgins (Brown Moses)[5][25] and Richard Lloyd.
[7] Their existence was initially denied by a Russian military expert until a video surfaced in October 2012 from inside a moving helicopter showing a barrel bomb being lit and dropped onto a target by Syrian Air Force personnel.
[26][27][28] The person who allegedly came up with the scheme to load barrels with explosives, nails, and metal fragments is Suheil al-Hassan, or "The Tiger", an Alawite Colonel.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, "This video footage exposes Assad's lies on barrel bombs", and "We will bring those involved in these criminal acts to justice".
[32] Barrel bomb attacks throughout Syria have killed more than 20,000 people since the conflict began in March 2011, according to a December 2013 statement by the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC).
[37] In February 2014, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2139 that demanded an end to indiscriminate aerial bombardment including the use of barrel bombs.
[41] By November 2014, it has been reported that the Syrian government has increased its barrel bombing campaign while world attention has been diverted following the American-led intervention in Syria.
[43] According to Raed al-Saleh, head of the Syrian Civil Defense, "The localized effect of a barrel bomb is the same as an earthquake measuring 8 on the Richter scale".
[44] In May 2014, it was reported by witnesses that the Iraqi army dropped barrel bombs on the city of Fallujah and surrounding areas,[45] killing civilians during the Anbar campaign.
[48] It has been claimed by an Iraqi Kurd air force pilot that the barrel bombs are produced by Iranians who then use Antonov aircraft and Huey helicopters to drop them.
[62] In December 2013, Russia refused to back a text at the UN Security Council that would have condemned the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for carrying out such indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas.
"[64] According to Nadim Houry, the Middle East and North Africa deputy director for HRW, the reason for the Syrian government's use of barrel bombs is that it doesn't fear any strong international action.
[65] Syrian opposition representatives have repeatedly requested from international allies, and been denied, the transfer of anti-aircraft weapons to moderate rebel groups, in order to target the aircraft used to drop "barrel bombs".
[8] Within days of the attack, analysts said they were moving towards a belief that there is "a coordinated chlorine campaign with growing evidence that it is the government side dropping the bombs".
[70] During the Syrian Civil War, in February 2014, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2139 that demanded "that all parties immediately cease all attacks against civilians, as well as the indiscriminate employment of weapons in populated areas, including shelling and aerial bombardment, such as the use of barrel bombs, and methods of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering".
