Syrian government air force fighters use cluster and thermobaric bombs against Syrian rebels 0211121

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The conflict in Syria
 
 
Friday, November 2, 2012, 07:12 AM
 
Syrian government air force fighters use cluster and thermobaric bombs against Syrian rebels.
Syrian government Air Force fighters are attacking cities with bombs that kill people and level buildings with massive pressure waves, a pro-opposition group reported Thursday, November 1, 2012. The accusations by the Local Coordination Committees were issued as Western officials urged opposition forces to regroup because they have no central body with which to work, CNN reported.
     
Syrian government Air Force fighters are attacking cities with bombs that kill people and level buildings with massive pressure waves, a pro-opposition group reported Thursday, November 1, 2012. The accusations by the Local Coordination Committees were issued as Western officials urged opposition forces to regroup because they have no central body with which to work, CNN reported.
Cluster bombs, which activists say were fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, are displayed at Sowran near Aleppo October 30, 2012.
     

If LCC's claim is true, the use of such weaponry means the Syrian regime has introduced a devastating new element into a conflict that has already seen Syrian military drop jury-rigged explosives from helicopters.

Vacuum bombs, formally known as thermobaric explosives, mix fuel with air in the atmosphere to produce a longer-lasting blast that ruptures the lungs, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said in a 2002 study.

In another airstrike, the Syrian military dropped old storage tanks packed with explosives from a helicopter on a line of people waiting for bread at a makeshift bakery in rebel-held town 12 miles west of Aleppo, killing at least 15 people, activists and witnesses said.

The opposition Syrian Network for Human Rights put the number of dead on Thursday at 141, including 48 around Damascus and 53 around Aleppo.