The Syrian opposition has accused government forces of having executed 72 people and burned their bodies in a village near the northern city of Aleppo. President Bashar Assad’s “terrorist regime executed 72 people after a raid on Malkiyeh village near the town of Sfeira in the east of Aleppo province,” the National Coalition said in a statement on 2 March. It said at least 49 of the bodies had been identified after the killings carried out on 1 March. “These repeated massacres carried out by the regime’s death squads show a criminal methodology clearly aimed at sowing terror and hatred between Syrians,” said the statement.
The Aleppo Press Centre said children, women and elderly people were among the victims, who it said were targeted on charges of having collaborated with rebel fighters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights spoke of reports of “dozens of civilians killed in Malkiyeh” after a government raid aimed at securing access for reinforcements to Aleppo international airport. The Britain-based Observatory called for the UN to investigate the case.