In other news from Syria, Human Rights Watch says the Syrian government’s use of improvised barrel bombs on rebel-held areas has increased over the past year. Hundreds of bombings have been carried out in Daraa and Aleppo, two key rebel-held battlegrounds in Syria’s civil war. The news comes just as the United Nations seeks to secure a truce in Aleppo after the Assad regime said it is willing to stop the attacks. In a statement, Human Rights Watch said: “For a year, the security council has done nothing to stop Bashar al-Assad’s murderous air bombing campaign on rebel-held areas, which has terrorized, killed, and displaced civilians. Amid talk of a possible temporary cessation of strikes on Aleppo, the question is whether Russia and China will finally allow the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions to stop barrel bombs.”