37 killed in airstrikes after ceasefire in Syria
BEIRUT: Airstrikes killed at least 37 people in a Syrian town in the eastern Ghouta region near the Syrian capital, Damascus, as another rebel group called for a ceasefire to negotiate evacuations with the government and its backer Russia, rescuers and a rebel spokesman said.
The rebel group Faylaq alRahman, one of at least three operating in the sprawling region, said the ceasefire went into effect by midnight on Thursday.
Spokesman Waiel Olwan said intense government attacks targeted the area controlled by his group amid a ground push.
Rescuers, known as the White Helmets, said all 37 people died in a single airstrike that hit an underground shelter in Arbeen.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the attacks and said government troops advanced in Hazeh south of Arbeen.
Olwan said his group has reached out to the United Nations to nego tiate the ceasefire amid the government escalation. Negotiations with Russia will follow to allow for the evacuation of civilians from the area, he said.
“We expect these negotiations to find a solution and a way out in the face of widespread suffering in eastern Ghouta,” Olwan added.
A similar deal with another rebel group, Ahrar alSham, led to the evacuation of hundreds of fighters and civilians from Harasta, an eastern Ghouta town in the north. — AP