War’s bloody toll

Dozens of children killed in latest Syrian, Russian air strikes

SYRIAN and Russian air strikes yesterday slammed into a rebel-held Damascus enclave, killing 106 civilians, including 19 children.

It was the second straight day in which the civilian death toll topped 100, after 127 were killed earlier this week in Eastern Ghouta’s bloodiest day in four years.

Dozens of children were among the 250 civilians killed since the escalation began on Sunday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The observatory blamed Russian warplanes, saying Moscow carried out its first strikes in three months on Eastern Ghouta, which is nominally included in a “de-escalation” deal meant to tamp down violence, but President Bashar al-Assad is apparently preparing troops for an imminent ground assault to retake it.

The US said it was “deeply concerned” about the escalating Syrian and Russian attacks.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert blamed the Assad regime’s “siege and starve tactics” for adding to the humanitarian disaster in the Damascus area.

She has endorsed the United Nations’ call for a monthlong halt to the violence.

Eastern Ghouta is home to more than 400,000 people, living under crippling government siege, with little access to food or medical resources. The air strikes put another hospital out of service.

In Geneva, UNICEF expressed its outrage with a “blank statement”.

“No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones,” UNICEF regional director Geert Cappalaere said.

Mr Cappalaere’s statement was followed by 10 empty lines with a footnote: “UNICEF is issuing this blank statement. We no longer have the words to describe children’s suffering and our outrage.

“Do those inflicting the suffering still have words to justify their barbaric acts?”