Barrel bomb

"Barrel bombs" are weapons of massive and indiscriminate damage and civilian deaths, allegedly all made and deployed by Syrian government forces, dropped from aircraft (helicopters) on rebel-held areas. The way these crude but powerful explosives fall straight down from a hovering helicopters is widely described as "indiscriminate," and they point to the almost totally civilian death from attacks described as done with barrel bombs. Pro-intervention activist reports have such attacks happening on a near daily basis in 2014 and 2015, using the charges increasingly as a reason for an imposed "No Fly Zone" over at least parts of Syria.

From March 2015, increasingly the accusation was expanded to barrel bombs that disperse chlorine gas, dropped on areas of Idlib and neighboring provinces, that had been "liberated" by Jabhat al-Nusra.

There is adequate logic behind the basic idea of such a weapon, depending on its usage. And there is some visual evidence of government forces indeed dropping explosives-laden barrels with welded tailfins from helicopters (some images or videos might be dubious or fake, but not likely all of them). However, when activists produce dead and suffering civilians in areas they administer, and claim it was one of these bombs that caused it, there is ample cause for skepticism. In many circles, that seems to get skipped over on the way to quick acceptance of the claim, and especially the central "fell from a helicopter" part of the story.

See:
 * Aleppo "Barrel Bombs Massacre"
 * Talk:Alleged Chemical Attack, March 16, 2015‎

Sources and claims

 * The Barrel Bomb Plant: Uncovering Assad's Secret Factory May 28th, 2015 by Tamaddun (Syrian opposition magazine)
 * ''Banias, an oil refinery city on Syria's Mediterranean coast, is home to one of the Assad regime's secret barrel bomb factories
 * ''The barrel bomb: a tremendous iron tank filled with explosives and organic fertilizers, and stuffed with sharp metal objects. Its weight ranges between a quarter to half a ton, and is dropped randomly from regime helicopters flying at high altitudes in order to avoid opposition fire. The barrel usually targets opposition-held cities or villages, deliberately causing death and injury among civilians.


 * A BBC report offers a graphic summary; from January 2014 to March 2015, in attacks described as done by this weapon: 3,124 civilians killed vs. 35 rebel fighters. The attacks had also damaged 3 schools, 17 hospitals, and 23 mosques.

Assad Denies Barrel Bombs
It's widely claimed that Syria's president - not his military experts - flatly denies using "barrel bombs." This stems entirely from one 2015 interview with BBC's Jeremy Bowen. Some sources highlighting this apparent dishonesty:
 * Channel 4: 'There are no barrel bombs': Assad's Syria 'facts' This gives some details, shows an unexploded unit in Hama, etc. Quoted there: "Assad is deluded or lying when he says his military are not murdering hundreds of innocent civilians with the use of barrel bombs." - Philip Hammond
 * War in Context: Assad denies using barrel bombs in Syria Shows a bomb-drop video, and a video of (claimed) on-the-ground effects.

The quote in question: - Jeremy Bowen: What about barrel bombs, you don’t deny that your forces use them?

- Bashar al-Assad: I know about the army, they use bullets, missiles, and bombs. I haven’t heard of the army using barrels, or maybe, cooking pots.

- Bowen: Large barrels full of explosives and projectiles which are dropped from helicopters and explode with devastating effect. There’s been a lot of testimony about these things.

- Assad: '''They’re called bombs. We have bombs, missiles and bullets… There is [are] no barrel bombs, we don’t have barrels'''.

If here completely denying barrel bombs, would he respond to a precise description of them with "they're called bombs," or with something like "they're imaginary"? The "gotcha" quote here is "there is no barrel bombs, we don't have barrels." But he also seems to acknowledge they do, just making issue of the barrel part - they're called bombs, he says. It's a questionable distinction, and easy enough to misread into a flat denial. He would still deny, and perhaps with good reason, that they're killing hundreds of civilians as claimed.

Video of Barrel Bomb Usage
Aerial (Syrian military usage)
 * Jisr Al-shughour - video for a pilot from Syrian Arab Army forces throwing barrel. bombs on terrorists May 24, 2015 - at least three dropped on a mountainous area, seen being shoved out of the helicopter and then falling. Still at right.


 * Helicopter drops a barrel bomb with a beautiful view. Daraya, May 19, 2014


 * Aleppo - 02/02/2014 - Barrel bomb dropped on the city p2 (below: stills from this)

Non-Aerial
 * Daily Mail aticle with video: ISIS uses in-place barrel bombs to blow up a tomb in Nimrud, Iraq