Violence has escalated in eastern Ghouta, despite a UN ceasefire call a week ago, and the bombing of the besieged Syrian enclave represents a “simply unacceptable” punishment of civilians, the United Nations said on Sunday.
Nearly 600 people have been reported killed and more than 2,000 injured in air and ground-based strikes since Feb. 18, UN regional humanitarian co-ordinator Panos Moumtzis said, noting that mortar shells fired from the rebel-held enclave into the capital Damascus had killed and injured scores of civilians.
“Instead of a much needed reprieve, we continue to see more fighting, more death, and more disturbing reports of hunger and hospitals being bombed. This collective punishment of civilians is simply unacceptable,” Moumtzis said in a statement.
Protesters chant slogans as they hold placards and wave former Syrian ‘independence flags’ (now adopted by forces fighting Syrian pro-government forces) in front of the Iranian consulate in Istanbul on March 3. (Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty Images)
The air and artillery bombardment of the eastern Ghouta has been continuing over the last two weeks as the Syrian government seeks to crush the last major rebel stronghold near the capital Damascus. It marks one of the most intense bombardments of the war entering its eight year.
President Bashar al-Assad’s Russian allies have called for daily, five-hour humanitarian ceasefires, but these have brought little respite to the besieged area that the United Nations says is home to 400,000 people.
Syrian troops and allied militias have captured a number of villages and towns in the rebel-held region, state media and activists reported Sunday.
Syria’s Central Military Media said government forces captured at least six villages and towns along the edge of eastern Ghouta in the advance that began late Saturday.
A reporter from the state-run Al-Ikhbariyah TV, who accompanied the troops, broadcast from Nashabiyah, a village on the southeastern edge of eastern Ghouta. The reporter said the Syrian troops had crossed a “moat” and seized around 12 square kilometres. The advance was backed by intense shelling and airstrikes.
Rebel factions said they launched a counter-offensive Sunday, sending fighters behind government lines in a series of attacks. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels regained control of at least one town, while fighting continues.
The Observatory and the Syrian Civil Defence said civilians fleeing the advancing troops were taking cover in underground shelters. “It is a scorched-earth policy,” said Ghouta-based activist Nour Adam. “People are moving out because of the relentless bombing.”
Meanwhile, no civilians have exited through a humanitarian corridor set up by Russia and the Syrian government nearly a week ago.
Russia has accused the rebels of preventing civilians from leaving, allegations denied by the insurgents. The rebels say the humanitarian corridor is part of government efforts to forcibly displace the population, and have called on government forces to implement a full ceasefire adopted by the UN Security Council.
