BABIES BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL
Syrian babies receive treatment for a suspected chemical attack at a makeshift clinic in the rebel-held village of Al Shifuniyah in Eastern Ghouta late on Sunday. A child died and at least 13 other people suffered breathing difficulties after a suspected chemical attack on the besieged Syrian rebel enclave. —
beirut — A family of nine was killed in Syrian government bombardment of the rebel enclave of eastern Ghouta overnight, where air strikes and fighting have persisted despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire, a war monitor said on Monday.
Health authorities in oppositionrun eastern Ghouta said late on Sunday that several people had suffered symptoms consistent with chlorine gas exposure, killing one child, after an explosion.
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has steadily clawed back control of areas where his opponents rose up against his rule in 2011. Eastern Ghouta is the last major insurgent stronghold near Damascus, the seat of his power.
The bombardment of eastern Ghouta over the past week has been one of the heaviest of Syria’s seven-year war, killing at least 522 people in seven days, according to a toll compiled by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom-based war monitor.
It said two bodies had been pulled from the rubble of a home destroyed by an air strike in the Ghouta town of Douma, with seven others from the same family dead underneath.
The intensity of the bombardment has diminished since then but has still killed two dozen people, the Observatory said.
Rebel shelling has caused 36 deaths and a number of injuries in Damascus and nearby rural areas in the last four days, Zaher Hajjo, a government health official, told Reuters.
In eastern Ghouta, people were making use of the relative lull in the bombardment to find provisions, said Moayad Hafi, a rescue worker based there.
“There is less bombardment relative to recent days. Civilians rushed from their shelters to get food and return quickly since the warplanes are still in the sky and can hit at any moment,” he told Reuters in a voice message.
Iran’s military chief of staff said on Sunday that pro-Damascus forces would press ahead with the offensive in the Damascus suburbs, saying the ceasefire did not cover parts of the Damascus suburbs “held by the terrorists”.
The main rebel factions in eastern Ghouta are Jaish Al Islam and Failaq Al Rahman.
Tahrir Al Sham, an alliance of militant groups including the former Al Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front, also has a presence there.
Syrian state television reported that army units had directed strikes and advanced against militants near Harasta in eastern Ghouta. State news agency Sana also reported that the army had stopped a car bomb being driven into Damascus.
The Nusra Front has consistently been excluded from ceasefires in Syria, and the opposition says the government has used this as an excuse to keep up its bombardments.
The Syrian government has consistently denied using chemical weapons in the war.
Russia, which backs the Assad government, accused rebels of preparing to use toxic agents in eastern Ghouta so they could later accuse Damascus of employing chemical weapons.
In recent weeks, the United States has accused Syria of repeat-
I expect the resolution to be immediately implemented and sustained. eastern Ghouta cannot wait. It is high time to stop this hell on earth.
Antonio Guterres,
United Nations chief
edly using chlorine gas as a weapon. Rebel-held areas of the Ghouta region were hit in a chemical attack in 2013.
Last year, a joint inquiry by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found the Syrian government was responsible for an April 4, 2017, attack using the banned nerve agent sarin in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, killing dozens. —
The resolution must be viewed against a backdrop of seven years of failure to stop the violence, seven years of unremitting and frightful mass killing,
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN rights chief
There is less bombardment relative to recent days. Civilians rushed from their shelters to get food and return quickly since the planes were still in the sky.
Moayad Hafi, A rescue worker
Leaders of armed groups are preparing a provocation to use toxic substances to accuse the regime of using chemical weapons. Ghouta situation is worsening.
Russia defence ministry
The syrian military would continue to target ‘terrorist groups’ in Ghouta. The zones on damascus periphery... are not covered by ceasefire.
Mohammad Bagheri,
Iranian army chief