Syrian troops backed by allied militiamen have stormed a predominantly Sunni village in central Syria killing at least 15 people, while opposition forces began an offensive near Aleppo to try to cut the army’s supply route to the northern city, activists said on 22 September. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack on the village of Sheikh Hadid occurred late Friday and that the dead included two women and a child. It said the rest were men but did not know if they included rebel fighters.
The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said 26 people were killed in Sheikh Hadid, including some who were killed with knives. Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said at least two of the dead were stabbed to death. The assault came shortly after rebels captured Jalma, another village close to Sheikh Hadid in Hama province, killing five soldiers. The Observatory said fighting raged Saturday in Sheikh Hadid and nearby areas.
Meanwhile, Syria’s main opposition group rejected an offer by Iran’s new President, Hasan Rowhani, to help in holding a national dialogue to end the Arab country’s crisis. The Coalition’s rejection came two days after Rowhani wrote in the Washington Post that Tehran was ready to facilitate talks between Assad’s government and the opposition. “The Iranian statement is ridiculous after all the blood that Iran participated in shedding … through its political, economic and military support to Assad,” said the SNC statement.