USA TODAY International Edition
More than 100 Syrian civilians killed in government airstrikes
Bombings create one of bloodiest times in clash
Airstrikes and shelling by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces on Damascus suburbs killed nearly 130 people in two days, marking one of the deadliest bombings of the region in three years.
At least 98 people, including 20 children, died Monday in the opposition-held area of eastern Ghouta, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday.
While the deaths could not be inde- pendently verified by USA TODAY, Syrian Civil Defense, a civilian-led emergency response group known as White Helmets, said some people were still trapped under the rubble. It said hundreds have been wounded in a weeklong bombardment.
The airstrikes mark one of the deadliest periods for civilian deaths since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Eastern Ghouta is the last main rebel stronghold near Syria’s capital Damascus in the country’s multisided war. The conflict has pitted Assad’s government and its allies — including Iran and Russia — against a coalition of opposition Arab fighters that include Sunni Muslims, Kurds and other Syrian minority groups.
The United States backs some of the Arab fighters in its battle against the Islamic State and other extremists.
The United Nations says hundreds of children are in need of urgent medical evacuation from eastern Ghouta, where basic health services have crumbled under a siege by Assad forces. In the first month of this year, nearly 60 children were killed across Syria in violence in eastern Ghouta and other rebel-held enclaves, according to the U.N.
About a half-million people have been killed in Syria’s civil war, according to estimates by the U.N. and human rights organizations. Six million people have been displaced internally in the country, and another 5 million have sought refuge abroad.