Nine killed in air strikes on Syrian rebel town
Air strikes killed at least nine people in the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus and insurgent shelling from the rebel-held area landed near the Russian embassy yesterday, a war monitor reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths in the air strikes in the town of Arbin were the first civilian casualties since a Russian-backed truce in the area took effect. The Syrian military declared a cessation of hostilities there on Saturday.
But Russia, a military ally of president Bashar Al Assad, dismissed reports of air strikes in the area as “an absolute lie” meant to discredit Moscow’s peacemaking efforts.
“During working contacts with representatives of opposition groups in Eastern Ghouta it was confirmed that no military actions had been conducted in this de-escalation zone, there had been no air strikes,” a Russian defence ministry spokesman said yesterday.
Russia said on Monday it had deployed military police in Eastern Ghouta to enforce a de-escalation zone agreed with the Syrian opposition.
Yesterday’s shelling near the Russian embassy marked the first time rebels had hit government-held areas of central Damascus since the truce began.
The Observatory said the overnight air strikes wounded 30 people in Eastern Ghouta, while another four were injured by air strikes yesterday.
The civil defence for rural Damascus, a rescue service operating in the area, said the dead included five children and two women.
In a statement on its Facebook page, it put the number of wounded and missing at 50.
There was no mention of air strikes by Syrian state media.
Witnesses said three mortar shells landed in the neighbourhood where the Russian embassy is located in northeastern Damascus. There were no reports of casualties.