5- day assault on Syria enclave by govt kills 400

Douma, Feb. 23: ( Reuters) Fresh bombardment on Eastern Ghouta has killed dozens, bringing the number of dead civilians in a five- day assault by the Syrian government to more than 400.

Mounting calls for a humanitarian truce in one of the bloodiest episodes of Syria’s seven- year conflict failed to stop 46 more people being killed on Thursday by air strikes and rocket fire.

Regime backer Russia said there was “no agreement” at the UN Security Council on a 30day ceasefire for Syria and presented amendments to a draft resolution that would allow aid deliveries and the evacuation of civilians from besieged Eastern Ghouta.

Aid group Doctors Without Borders said 13 of the facilities it supports in Eastern Ghouta were damaged or destroyed in three days, leaving remaining staff with very little to save the hundreds of wounded brought to them every day.

In the hospital mortuary in Douma, the main town in the enclave just east of Damascus, bodies ◗ ◗ wrapped in white shrouds were already lined up on the floor, two of them children.

“Five days of air strikes and intense artillery fire by the regime and its Russian ally have killed 403 civilians, including 95 children,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Morning rain appeared to initially keep warplanes away yesterday but the sky cleared by midday and jets, some of them Russian according to the Observatory, soon returned.