VOA标准英语2012--Azaz Residents Pick Up After Aerial Bombings（在线收听）

Azaz Residents Pick Up After Aerial Bombings

The residents of Azaz clean up and mourn after Wednesday's deadly bombing by Syrian government warplanes.

Azaz had been peaceful in recent months, although forces of the rebel Free Syrian Army have had to resist several government attacks this year.

A grieving Mahmoud Ghreire lost a dozen relatives in this attack near the central market, including his uncle's entire family.

“There were children dead here," said Ghreire. "There were children dead there. There were kids inside here. And we found body parts of a boy here."

Yassar Hajjar shows a fragment of what he says was a 500-kilogram bomb.

“People were safe here in Azaz," said Hajjar. "And many people had come here from Aleppo as a place of refuge. But yesterday a Mig 25 destroyed that.”

Many residents have fled to neighboring Turkey. Some crossed the border Wednesday evening but many spent the night here, waiting for a place in Turkey's already crowded camps.

Yet many people stay on. Azaz remains defiant. But the feeling of calm and security is gone.