Fresh raids pound Douma after talks with rebels fail
BEIRUT: Deadly bombardments pounded the last opposition holdout in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta on Saturday, after Syrian troops resumed a military blitz to pressure rebels to withdraw.
Backed up by Russia’s firepower, Syrian President Bashar al Assad has ousted his armed opponents from nearly all of Ghouta, their last stronghold on the edge of the capital.
The government has used a combination of a fierce military onslaught and two negotiated withdrawals to empty out 95 per cent of the enclave, but rebels are still entrenched in its largest town of Douma.
Bombing subsided as Moscow pursued talks with Jaish, the faction that holds Douma, putting military operations seemingly on hold for about 10 days.
But the negotiations crumbled last week and air strikes resumed on Friday, killing 40 civilians according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Another eight civilians were killed on Saturday as more bombing raids targeted the town, the Britainbased war monitor said.
It could not confirm whether the strikes were carried out by Syrian government warplanes or those of its ally, Russia.
“The bombing has not stopped. We can’t even count all the wounded,” said Mohammed, a young doctor inside Douma. “There are some wounded who we couldn’t operate on in time, and they died,” he said.
Footage published by the White Helmets civil defence showed rescuers using their bare hands to pull back dirt and tiles in a bombedout house, eventually freeing a young man trapped underneath.
Syrain forces have used a combination of a fierce military onslaught and two negotiated withdrawals to clear the enclave, but rebels are still in Douma