UN: Targeting of civilians in Syria must stop
HAMMURIYEH (AFP) —The UN has demanded an end to the targeting of civilians in Syria after a heavy bombardment killed at least 100 civilians in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, as regime forces appeared to be preparing for an imminent ground assault.
The escalation came as pro-government forces were also expected to enter the northern Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin, to take a stand against a month-old Turkish assault.
Held by rebels since 2012, Eastern Ghouta is the last opposition pocket around Damascus and Syrian President Bashar Assad has deployed reinforcements in an apparent concerted effort to retake it.
As a barrage of air strikes, rocket fire and artillery slammed into several towns across Eastern Ghouta on Monday, the United Nations warned that the targeting of civilians in Eastern Ghouta “must stop now.”
“It’s imperative to end this senseless human suffering,” Panos Moumtzis, the UN’s Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 100 civilians, 20 of them children, were killed in the bombardment, the highest death toll in the enclave since early 2015.
“The regime is bombing Eastern Ghouta to pave the way for a ground offensive,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
The main opposition National Coalition, which is based in Turkey, denounced the “war of extermination” in Eastern Ghouta as well as the “international silence.”
It also accused regime ally Russia of seeking to “bury the political process” for a solution to the conflict.
An AFP correspondent saw residents of Hammuriyeh rushing indoors in panic at the first sound of jets.
Alaa al-Din, a 23-year-old Syrian in Hammuriyeh, said civilians were afraid of a potential government ground offensive.
“Ghouta’s fate is unknown. We’ve got nothing but God’s mercy and hiding out in our basements,” he told