Syria fighting:
Government air strikes kill dozens in one of the deadliest raids of the four-year civil war.
BEIRUT — Syrian air strikes on a Damascus suburb killed more than 80 people Sunday in one of the deadliest such raids of the four-year civil war, as fighting escalated around President Bashar Assad’s seat of power at a time when his overstretched forces have been losing ground elsewhere in the country.
The air raids struck the main market in Douma during rush hour, when hundreds of people were out shopping on the first working day of the week in Syria, activists said. The strikes appeared to have been launched in retaliation for the capture of an army base in a nearby suburb a day earlier by the Islamic Army rebel group, which enjoys strong support in Douma.
“This is an official massacre that was carried out deliberately,” said Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in Britain. He said warplanes fired a missile at the market and then launched another after people rushed in to retrieve the wounded.
Abdurrahman, whose group relies on a network of activists around the country for information, said four missiles were fired on the market, killing 82 people and wounding more than 200. He said the death toll is expected to rise because many of the wounded are in critical condition.
The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said the air raids killed at least 100 and wounded about 300, adding that rescue workers are digging through the rubble in search of survivors.
Douma is one of the largest suburbs of Damascus and has been held by rebels since the early days of Syria’s conflict, which began in March 2011 with mostly peaceful protests but escalated into a full-scale civil war after a major government crackdown. The conflict has claimed more than 250,000 lives and displaced up to a third of Syria’s prewar population.
The fighting in and around Damascus has intensified recently. Last week, rebels shelled the capital ahead of a visit by Iran’s foreign minister, killing more than 30 people. Iran is a close ally of Syria’s government and is preparing a peace initiative that would include a cease-fire and a power-sharing government.