Airstrikes in Syria kill at least 100
Government forces capture major town as civilians flee besieged areas The Associated Press
“The medical situation is catastrophic. We can’t stay in this situation for long.”
—Dr. Zouhair Kahaleh in Arbeen, Syria
BEIRUT—Airstrikes in Syria killed more than 100 people Friday as civilians fled besieged areas for the second straight day. Syrian government forces stepped up their offensive in the rebel-held eastern suburbs of the capital, Damascus, capturing a major town and closing in on another under the cover of Russia’s air power.
The majority of the deaths occurred in eastern suburbs of Damascus, known as eastern Ghouta, where government forces have been on a crushing offensive for three weeks capturing 70 percent of the once besieged rebel-held area. The weekslong violence left more than 1,300 civilians dead, 5,000 wounded and forced thousands to flee to government-controlled areas.
Friday’s staggering death toll came a day after Syria passed the seven-year mark in its relentless civil war that has killed some 450,000 people and displaced half the country’s population.
The Britain- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government and Russian forces have been bombing rebel-towns areas outside Damascus throughout Friday, killing 64 people in Kafr Batna and another 12 in Saqba. The Syrian Civil Defense search-and-rescue group reported 61 fatalities in Kafr Batna.
Later Friday, government forces captured the town of Jisreen, closing in on Saqba from the east, north and south, forcing opposition fighters to retreat west. The Syrian government is determined to seize Kafr Batna, Saqba and the rest of the besieged eastern Ghouta region from rebels.
The Obser-vatory said Turkish shelling and airstrikes have killed another 27 people in the Kurdishheld town of Afrin in north Syria where Turkish troops and Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters have been on the offensive since Jan. 20. Turkey is getting closer to capturing the main town in the region, also called Afrin.
“If the world does not move, Ghouta will be exterminated,” said Siraj Mahmoud, a Civil Defense member in eastern Ghouta.
The attack on Kafr Batna was with cluster bombs, napalm-like incendiary weapons, and conventional explosives, the Observatory said.
Photos and videos released from the area showed charred bodies covered with sheets lined near what appeared to be shops.
The assault was part of an indiscriminate campaign by President Bashar Assad’s forces to retake the town and the rest of the enclave from the rebels.
A medical charity supporting hospitals in the Ghouta region, the Syrian American Medical Society, said doctors in Kafr Batna were treating patients for severe burn wounds. The charity said earlier in the day that it recorded 40 casualties on Friday.
Oways al-Shami, a spokesman for Syrian Civil Defense, said the airstrike targeted a market and a nearby residential area where scores of people have gathered. He said people were in the market to buy bread and vegetables at the time of the strike.
Dr. Zouhair Kahaleh, in the nearby town of Arbeen, said “the medical situation is catastrophic. We can’t stay in this situation for long.” He said the streets are closed, and “we can’t treat some of the cases here. It’s a major challenge to reach the wounded because of the intensity of the airstrikes.”
Kahaleh said some operations have had to be postponed indefinitely because there are no specialized doctors in other area, which cannot currently be accessed.
Exhausted and shell-shocked civilians streamed out of eastern Ghouta for the second consecutive day heading to buses arranged by the government to transport them to a center for identification and relief.
A man interviewed on state-affiliated al-Ikhbariya TV said he had gone two days without food. Others said rebels hoarded food and humiliated civilians, even shooting people trying to leave.
The U.N. has warned of a malnutrition crisis in eastern Ghouta, which human rights groups have blamed on the government’s strangling blockade.