Deir Al-Asafir Playground Bombing

This alleged fighter-jet bombing of a playground, with generally banned cluster munitions, killed a reported 8-11 children (reports vary) on November 25, 2012, in Deir al-Asafir, a suburb of Damascus. "None of those killed were older than 15 years old," local activist Abu Kassem told Reuters, although at least one adult male can be seen among the apparent dead, and Kassem noted "there are two women among 15 people wounded, mostly hit as they were inside the courtyards of their houses." By other sources, around 40 people were injured to varying degrees.

Location and Control Issues, Fighting at Marj Al-Sultan Air Base
Deir al-Asafir is located 12 km southeast of Damascus, near the airport, as shown on the inset map. It was the site of an earlier military operation that was reported by SANA on September 9 as "killing a big number of terrorist mercenaries and arresting many of their leaders."

As the map above shows, the town is immediately east of the Marj al-Sultan district, housing an air force base of the same name, from which the alleged air strike might have originated. However, wikimapia lists only a helicopter base in the military enclave there. Interestingly, the rebels had reportedly conquered this base just before the bombing, by "Sunday morning" according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A video of the place and the satellite imagery both support that, showing mostly or totally helicopters. The video shows at least two have been destroyed and burned, while there were claims they also destroyed a warplane there.

The rebels say they pulled out of the Marj-al-Sultan base quickly to avoid making it a bombing target. They presumably had done the same favor for the surrounding towns, and retired to somewhere else entirely, rather than inviting strikes by holing up anywhere near this playground in the town next door. As Anne Barnard wrote for theNew York Times, reporting on the base conquest:
 * [W]hat they are not necessarily seeking is to hold the bases they hit. Instead, rebels have shifted tactics, fighters and analysts say, seizing outposts, then often abandoning them, to deny government air power a target for retaliation. Rebels say they have learned from recent mistakes, after seizing neighborhoods only to draw devastating airstrikes that killed civilians and alienated supporters. Now, they focus less on conquering territory than on turning a war of attrition to their advantage, forcing the state to bleed.

Reuters reported how, at an uncertain time on Sunday, likely after that nearby battle, "the children went out after a lull in fighting [...] when fighter jets struck." Who was doing the fighting until then is unclear; according to opposition activist Abu Kassem, "There were no fighters inside Deir al-Asafir when the bombing occurred. They operate on the outskirts. This was indiscriminate bombing," he said. However, the report also described Deir al-Asafir generally as "a rebel-held village," and the BBC reported the other area flanking the base to the north, Eastern Ghouta, "has been in rebel hands for some months."

The Evidence
Even with all the claims and the pretext described above, there is as yet no public proof a fighter jet was even involved in this bombing. But the impression there was makes a great explanation why the neighboring air base’s liberation would make the perfect revenge, even if it came a little before the pretext.

The evidence for cluster bombs being used is as follows, from Reuters: ''Abu Kassem said the munitions dropped by the fighter jets were cluster bombs. Other footage showed a row of what appeared to be unexploded small bombs. "We collected 70 of these so far," one man said.'' The video evidence will be partially examined at this site in short order.

"Syrian authorities made no [immediate] comment on the report," Reuters' dispatch noted, but passed on the Syrian army's previous assertion that it simply did not have any cluster bombs. However if they did, the illegality isquestionable; like Israel, the US, and Russia, Syria has never signed the treaty pledging not to use them.