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Syria Unleashes Cluster Bombs on Town, Punishing Civilians
(New York Times) C. J. Chivers - The plane released its weapons over the town of Marea in Syria on Dec. 12 and within seconds, scores of finned bomblets struck and exploded on its homes and narrow streets. The staff at the local hospital counted 4 dead and 23 wounded, all civilians. The victims of the cluster bomb attacks describe the tactic as collective punishment, a mass reprisal against populations that are with the rebels. The town is the home of Abdulkader al-Saleh, a prominent rebel field commander in the Aleppo region. In the attack, at least three dispensers, each containing 42 bomblets slightly smaller than a one-liter bottle and packed with a high-explosive shaped charge, were dropped squarely onto neighborhoods and homes.