Syrian govt. bombs rebel-held city, activists say

PanARMENIAN.Net - Syrian government airstrikes have killed at least 14 people in the northern province of Raqqa less than a week after rebels seized the area's provincial capital, their first since the start of Syria's civil war, anti-regime activists said Sunday, March 10, according to AP,

The city of Raqqa, home to a half million people before Syria's uprising, could prove a test case for how rebels administer areas they capture. The rebel groups that led the battle for the city are strongly Islamist, some of them extremists, and videos released over the weekend indicate some fighters have summarily executed prisoners.

Recent government airstrikes, meanwhile, show the limits of rebel control. Even if they hold the ground, they can do little about the government's air force, which often bombards areas recently captured by the rebels, killing fighters and civilians alike. Two airstrikes in Raqqa province killed at least 14 people, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday. The attacks took place the day before, it said.

A video posted online from Raqqa city showed the dead bodies of seven people scattered in a street with destroyed buildings nearby. An off-camera narrator says they were killed in an airstrike.

The Observatory said at least seven others were killed in a separate strike Saturday near the province's eastern border.