Dozens killed, wounded in airstrike near Damascus

At least 60,000 people have died in Syria's conflict, U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said on Wednesday, citing an "exhaustive" U.N.-commissioned study.   

Over five months of analysis, researchers cross-referenced seven sources to compile a list of 59,648 individuals reported killed between March 15, 2011, and Nov. 30, 2012.

"Given there has been no let-up in the conflict since the end of November, we can assume that more than 60,000 people have been killed by the beginning of 2013," Pillay said.

"The number of casualties is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking."

In Idlib Reef, the town of Banash was heavily shelled by hovercrafts which threw explosive barrels on the town along with artillery fire, according to the Observatory.

On another note, an Australian national was killed in Syria on Sunday morning when opposition fighters broke into the strategic army base of Wadi al-Deif northwest of the country, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.          

The director of the Observatory Rami Abdul Rahman said that the Australian citizen was killed on December 30 while participating alongside opposition fighters in an operation to break into the Wadi al-Deif base.

Meanwhile, activists said that dozens of people have been killed or wounded in an air raid on a gas station near the capital Damascus.
    
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees say the airstrike occurred Wednesday in the eastern Damascus suburb of Mleiha.
  
An amateur video posted online showed several charred bodies as well as a bearded dead man who was torn to pieces.
     
It also showed several vehicles on fire as black smoke billowed from the Nawras Gas Station.
     
The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.

This as, the family of a freelance American reporter James Foley, revealed on Wednesday that he was kidnapped in Syria six weeks ago and has been missing since.

Foley, 39, is an experienced war reporter who contributed videos to Agence France-Presse (AFP). According to witnesses, he was seized by 4 armed men in the northern province of Idlib on November 22.

AP/LBCI