Activists say Syrian airstrike killed at least 20

BEIRUT -- Syrian warplanes bombed an olive oil factory packed with farmers yesterday, killing 20 people in the latest regime strike to rip through a crowd of civilians, activists said.

The civil war is taking a devastating toll on an already beleaguered population.

Human Rights Watch said it found "compelling evidence" that the regime used cluster bombs in an airstrike that killed 11 children earlier this week.

Two anti-regime activist groups, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, said the factory was hit near the northern city of Idlib.

The Observatory said "tens were killed or wounded," while the LCC said at least 20 people were killed.

President Bashar Assad's regime has been relying on air power in recent months, mostly in the northern province of Idlib, the nearby province of Aleppo, Deir el-Zour to the east and suburbs of the capital, Damascus.

Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut, said the air force is being used in areas that the overstretched army cannot easily reach.

"This is mass punishment," Khashan said. "The regime is desperate and wants to make the price of its opponents' victory costly."

Olive oil is a main staple in Syria. Tens of thousands of tons are produced annually.

Fadi al-Yassin, an activist based in Idlib, told The Associated Press by telephone that dozens of people had gathered to have their olives pressed when the warplanes struck.

"Now is the season to press oil," said al-Yassin, noting that many olive press factories are not functioning because of the fighting in the region. "Functioning olive press factories are packed with people these days."

Also yesterday, Syria's air force targeted a village in northeastern Hasekah province, said Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency. At least four people were wounded were taken to Turkey for treatment.