Wednesday, October 1, represented a tragic day for Syria as children outside a school were targeted by two car bomb attacks. As a result of the twin explosions, as many as 20 people, including 10 children, perished while another 50 others were left with serious injuries.Those behind the twin car bombing planned the blasts in such a manner that the first car exploded when the children were leaving school and the second car bomb blasted while horrified parents were making their way through the rubble, searching for their sons and daughters.
The bombs went off outside the Ekremah al-makhzoumi elementary school which is located in a government-controlled region of Homs, Syria’s third largest city. The area is mostly populated by Alawites who are a Shiite sect. President Bashar Assad’s family also belongs to the same sect. Despite the fact that the double car bomb attack has not been claimed by any group until now, the civil war that has been tearing Syria apart for four years now has given way to many such atrocities, with both sides of the fight being accused of crimes of war.
However, most times civilians are those caught in the middle and the result, after four years, amounts to the death of 191,000 people and many more families divided or left without a home. Still, an attack that specifically targets school children, such as this latest one, has happened very rarely and it is not a common act.
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Meanwhile, in Kobani, another Syrian city which is bordering Turkey, large numbers of citizens are crossing the border back into Syria in order to join the fight against ISIL. Many of them are followed by their wives and other family members. One Kurdish fighter explained his decision to return to Syria: ‘This is a national mobilisation. It’s a matter of honour. Do you think it’s possible to stay at home or go to work while in this situation? There’s a war taking place and we just can’t sit back and watch. It’s not part of our traditions to do that.’ The ISIL threat lurks just nearby Kobani as several neighboring villages have already fallen under their control.