Syrian civil society organizations have launched a media campaign under the title “together for eastern Ghouta” to draw attention to the suffering of civilians in the Damascus suburb because of bombardment on residential areas.
Representatives of the organizations held a press conference in the Turkish city of Gaziantep on Thursday to promote the campaign and explain its goals. Organizers said that the campaign is aimed at drawing attention to the suffering of some 400,000 civilians living in besieged eastern Ghouta. They pointed out that civilians live in harsh humanitarian conditions as they are denied their most basic rights such as access to medicine and food.
The eastern parts of eastern Ghouta have been subjected to relentless onslaught by the Assad regime and the allied Iranian militias backed by Russian aerial support. The attacks have claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians in recent weeks and caused the humanitarian situation to further deteriorate amidst failure of the international community to provide assistance to civilians.
The United Nations acknowledged its failure to stop attacks against civilians. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric earlier this week said that “history will record failure to stop the fighting and will lay the blame on those responsible.”
Activists on Tuesday held a sit-in the town of Mesraba in eastern Ghouta and held signs that read ‘Assad is the other side of ISIS,’ ‘stop Assad’s terrorism, and “where is the conscience of the world?’ Participants in the sit-in included Deputy Head of the Syrian Interim Government (SIG) Akram Tomeh, head of the Rural Damascus Provincial Council, and officials of the local administration.
The ongoing bombing campaign by the Russian and Assad regime forces has killed over 500 civilians and wounded thousand more as the last week in eastern Ghouta has been described as the deadliest since 2015. According to unofficial figures, over 250 civilian were killed in eastern Ghouta alone in less than a week. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)