Dozens of civilians were killed and wounded in relentless bombardment by regime forces and their allied Iranian militias on the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta in the past 24 hours. Local activists said that the Assad regime brought in new reinforcements in preparation for a ground attack on the besieged Damascus suburb.
Activists in the town of Misraba in eastern Ghouta said that five civilians were killed and 10 others injured in rocket shelling by the Assad regime forces on the town. The shelling directly targeted residential areas in the center of the town, causing damage to residential buildings.
Douma Coordination Committee said on its Facebook page that Assad regime forces bombed the area separating the towns of Ash’ari and Shifounya on Sunday, killing four civilians and injuring many others. It added that three more civilians were killed in similar attacks on the town of Otaya, two others in the town Saqba, and one civilian in the town of Muhammadiyah.
Activists said that a baby girl died because of lack of food and medicine resulting from the siege imposed on civilians by Assad’s forces and the Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The Syrian Coalition earlier warned of the consequences of the international community’s continued ignoring of these atrocities, including the collapse of the political process unless deterrent measures are taken to stop the Assad regime’s crimes.
An independent rights watchdog said that it recorded an upsurge in civilian casualties in Syria in the past three months as the Assad regime and its allies continue to wage ferocious bombing campaigns in different parts of Syria.
In a report issued on Friday, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that Assad regime forces committed at least 40 massacres in eastern Ghouta claiming the lives of 729 civilians in the past three months. The victims included 185 children, 109 women, seven civil defense workers, 10 medical workers, and two media activists.
The Network pointed out that Assad’s forces are responsible for the death of 697 civilians, including 177 children, 96 women, six civil defense workers, 10 medical workers, and one media activist.
The Russian forces killed 32 civilians, including eight children, 13 women, and one civil defense workers in three massacres, the monitoring group added.
Residents of eastern Ghouta have been suffering dire humanitarian conditions a result of the tightened siege imposed on the area by the Assad regime and its allies for over five years. Amnesty international earlier said that regime forces used internationally banned weapons in populated areas constituting war crimes. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
