Activists from Darayya west of Damascus said that Assad’s air force dropped nearly 26 barrel bombs on the district earlier today. The district has been subjected to a suffocating siege for nearly three years, causing severe shortages of food and medical supplies.
Vice-president of the Syrian Coalition Hisham Marwa said today that “the Assad regime’s siege and bombardment of civilians violate UN Security Council resolutions. Assad has been committing these crimes under military and political cover by Russia. Meanwhile, the Assad regime continues to deceive the international community and procrastinate with regard to the political process.”
Marwa went on to say that “Russia is now the biggest obstacle to the political process in Syria as it continues with its aggression, killing Syrian civilians and providing political cover for the illegitimate regime. Russia’s actions in Syria prove that Russia does not differ from the murderous Assad regime.”
“Assad seeks to thwart any possible political solution through besieging civilians amid the international community’s failure to enforce UN Security Council resolutions which call for lifting the siege and the delivery of aid to the besieged areas. The only solution is through providing the Free Syrian Army with the advanced weapons it needs to break the blockades and save the lives of starving civilians.”
Regime forces have been besieging 13 areas in Syria, causing people to starve to death as in the town of Madaya in rural Damascus. The districts of Darya and Moadamiyah are also subjected to crippling siege by regime forces. Nearly 12,000 civilians are trapped in Darayya which has been besieged since late 2012, with regime forces preventing the entry of food and medical supplies.
Earlier today, 46 barrel bombs were dropped on Darayya and Moadamiyah, whilst violent clashes between and the Free Syrian Army and regime forces continue. Regime forces are trying to control the area connecting the two districts to separate them from each other.
Regime forces also pounded the southern parts of Moadamiyah with heavy artillery, mortar and surface-to-surface rockets, while the FSA fighters continued to hold off the regime attack on the district. Activists reported a ramping up of regime forces on the outskirts of Moadamiyah in an attempt to storm into it.
The Assad regime has been bombing rebel-controlled areas west of Damascus for over three years, especially with barrel bombs. In total, nearly 3,340 barrel bombs struck Darayya in 2015 alone. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
