Activists said that dozens of civilians were killed and injured in intensified airstrikes and violent artillery shelling on eastern Ghouta on Sunday. The bombardment also caused widespread destruction to residential neighborhoods.
At least 60 airstrikes hit the towns of Harasta and Arbin, while the towns of Saqba, Douma, and Jisreen came under a barrage of artillery shells.
The most violent airstrikes by the Assad regime jets struck the eastern and western sides of Harasta, while 14 airstrikes targeted the district of Qaboun in eastern Damascus.
Regime forces also pounded Alhafez Street in the district of Barza in Damascus by three so called “elephant rockets,“ a highly destructive indiscriminate improvised weapon. Regime jets also raided the districts of Tishreen and the farmlands in Barza district.
The Assad regime forces have recently intensified aerial and artillery bombardment on the eastern parts of Damascus, with reports of a military build-up by regime forces in preparation for a ground attack.
Local activist Oudai Ouda said that that the ferocious bombardment on eastern Ghoutta by regime forces is aimed at forcing residents to agree to so called reconciliation settlements with Assad’s forces, warning that such settlements are aimed at forcing the local population out of their homes and empty Damascus and its suburbs out of the indigenous population.
Local sources said that the Assad regime forces have already launched on offensive aimed at separating the district of Barza from Qaboun as a first step to tighten the noose on eastern Ghouta. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Inab Baladi News Network)
