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SUNDAY FEATURE

Developing: Turkish Military Force Enters Country To Move Tomb of Suleyman Shah

After a lull in operations because of bad weather, President Assad’s warplanes renewed bombing on Saturday, killing more than 100 people across the country.

The attacks were heaviest in Aleppo Province in the northwest, as the regime tried to recover after the defeat of its offensive and heavy casualties during the week.

The Local Coordination Committees said 112 people were killed in Syria yesterday, 63 of them in Aleppo Province.

Attacks were reported on Haritan, Hayyan, and the Shaar and Sakhour areas of Aleppo city. Syrian civil defense workers reported at least 15 barrel bombs during the day.

Civil defense workers rescue an elderly woman:

Thousands of civilians have been killed by the barrel bombs, explosive cylinders dropped from regime helicopters.

See Syria Video Feature: Assad’s Deadly “Barrel Full of Lies”

Rebels: Regime Bombs Near Damascus, Killing Civilians and 6 Assad Officers

The opposition ANA Press says the Syrian Air Force resumed bombing of several areas of opposition-held East Ghouta near Damascus on Sunday morning, killing several people and wounding dozens.

The site said at least 13 air strikes hit the Deir al-Asafeer suburb, while three people, including a child and a woman, were killed and several others injured in Douma. Attacks were also reported on the Jisreen suburb and the Jobar district of Damascus.

A child is rescued from rubble:

Zahran Alloush, the leader of the rebel faction Jaish al-Islam, claims that the Assad regime killed six of its own officers when it bombed a prison in Douma.

The casualties included a brigadier general:

In a now-deleted Tweet, Alloush lists the names of the dead, including a Brigadier General.

The Assad regime has carried out a bombardment and siege of Douma for more than two years. The bombings escalated in the past month until Jaish al-Islam fired rockets on military installations in Damascus.

Assad Regime: US-Turkey Agreement to Train & Equip Rebels Has Killed Off UN Envoy’s “Freeze” Plan

Deputy Foreign Minister Feisal al-Mikdad said on Saturday that the US-Turkey agreement to train and arm thousands of “moderate” rebels has killed off the plan of UN envoy Staffen de Mistura for a “freeze” to fighting in Aleppo, even before the proposal is implemented.

US and Turkish officials said last week that they have reached agreement to begin training in late March. The program, which will start in camps in Jordan, has the goal of a force of 3,000 fighters by the end of 2015. The US envisages that the rebels will confront the Islamic State; Turkey sees it as a challenge to the Assad regime.

“This agreement is a premature judgment by those countries on the failure of de Mistura’s mission which was supported by Syria that will exert every effort to make it a success,” Mikdad said in an article published by Lebanon’s al-Binaa newspaper.

UN envoy de Mistura said last week that the Assad regime was ready to back his plan for a six-week halt to fighting in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, which has been divided since July 2012.

However, Mikdad alleged, “The reality which became crystal clear is that the US politicians are the ones who protect the terrorist criminal organizations, and the most important evidence on this fact is the cosmetic war of the US coalition on the Islamic State…terrorist organization which is carried on beyond the international legitimacy and the UN Security Council’s relevant resolutions.”

Swedish Journalist Medin Released After Detention by Regime

Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, reported missing in northern Syria last week, and his translator were freed on Saturday from detention by regime authorities.

Medin has reported from Syrian Kurdistan for months, including from the city of Kobane as it withstood a four-month Islamic State offensive. He was released to Kurdish officials in Qamishli in northeast Syria. Claims are circulating that he was swapped for a regime officer.

SWEDISH JOURNALIST MEDIN

Medin’s last tweet before he went missing:

Regime Forces Still Holding 1 Village Taken in Failed Aleppo Offensive

Contrary to earlier reports, it appears that regime forces are still holding one village taken in its failed offensive in Aleppo Province this week.

Pro-Assad accounts claim that Syrian troops are still in Bashqwy, an assertion supported by a pro-rebel site’s summary that “revolutionary forces mortared regime bases in the village of Bashqwy amid clashes in the area” on Saturday.

Sources indicate that, while some Assad forces are still in the Bashqwy, it is besieged and under steady attack before a ground offensive to retake the village.

Two other villages, Rityan and Hardantain, were briefly occupied by the Syrian forces — joined by Hezbollah, Iranian, and Afghan fighters — last week but rebels counter-attacked and inflicted heavy losses on the regime troops. The Syrian operation was seeking to relieve pressure on the besieged regime enclaves of Nubl and al-Zahraa.

See Syria Feature: Opposition Clears Assad Forces from Villages Attacked in Failed Aleppo Offensive

State Media: 2 Killed, 20 Wounded by Rebel Mortars in Aleppo City

State news agency SANA says two civilians were killed and 20 wounded on Saturday by rebel mortars in Aleppo city.

Citing police sources, the site said the al-Midan neighborhood and Bustan Kell-app area were struck.