Authorities in Syria discovered on Sunday the bodies of at least 566 civilians and rebel soldiers who were killed during a six-day slaughter, various media reported.
One opposition group, the Local Coordination Committees, called the discovery gruesome and said it was the largest number of dead bodies to be found in a single day since fighting started, more than two years ago, Ynet News reported.
The majority of the bodies — at least 450 — were discovered in a suburb of Damascus called Jadidat al-Fadel, Ynet reported. That’s where 3,000 of President Bashar Assad’s military just stormed; among the dead are 300 civilians and 150 Free Syrian Army fighters, said LCC activist Abu Aasy, in Ynet. Also on Sunday, 85 bodies were discovered in the wake of a days-long rebel battle with Syrian government forces, this time in the Damascus suburb of Jdeidet al-Fadel.
Mostly women and children were killed in that battle, described as a “massacre” by Syrian opposition activists, Ynet reported.
Other activists say the death count in that battle stands above 250, Ynet said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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