The United Nations envoy for Syria says government barrel bomb airstrikes have caused widespread civilian death and destruction in the city of Zabadani. <br /><br /> Fierce clashes and heavy bombardments continued overnight in and around the city.<br /><br /> Staffan de Mistura has expressed deep concern over the situation with the civilian population. <br /><br /> “In a statement issued last night, he cited reliable local sources that confirmed that a large number of barrel bombs have been dropped,” a UN spokesperson told reporters. “The ‘Army of Conquest’ have retaliated by firing rockets and heavy mortar shells on two villages near Idlib, Al Foua and Kefraya, where a substantial number of civilians are trapped.”<br /><br /> Control of Zabadani is crucial to consolidating Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s control of the border zone between Lebanon and Syria.<br /><br /> Rebels say that although the army had surrounded insurgents inside the city centre and cut supplies of arms and food from nearby towns, they had so far prevented t
