M0RE THAN 320 DIE IN SYRIA CLASHES
Calls for end to fighting fall on deaf ears
SYRIAN regime jets have pounded Eastern Ghouta, sending the death toll from a four-day assault on the rebel enclave on the outskirts of Damascus soaring past 220.
Violence also flared in eastern Syria on Thursday, where the United States-led coalition said it had killed at least 100 pro-regime fighters to fend off an attack on its Kurdish allies.
The clash marked a fresh escalation between Washington, which has threatened the regime over its alleged use of chemical weapons, and Damascus, which labelled the latest incident in eastern Syria a “war crime”.
Moscow also slammed the USled strikes, with Russia’s United Nations ambassador Vassily Nebenzia saying he had lodged a protest about the assault during a closed-door Security Council meeting.
“To confront those who really fight international terrorism on the ground in Syria is criminal,” he said.
The UN Security Council on Thursday failed to back a UN appeal for a month-long humanitarian ceasefire in Syria.
Eastern Ghouta, which lies east of the capital, has been besieged since 2013.
“These are the worst four days that Eastern Ghouta has ever gone through,” said a doctor, who was treating wounded patients at a clinic here.
“From 2011 until now, there has never been the level of bombardment we’ve seen in the last 96 hours.”
The death toll mounted steadily throughout Thursday, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying that 75 civilians had died by the evening. Three died of wounds suffered on Wednesday.
That brought to 228 the number of civilians killed since the regime launched a campaign on Monday of heavy air raids on the area, which has an estimated 400,000 residents.
Among them were at least 58 children, the Observatory said.
“Children and teachers are terrified that at any moment they could be hit. The siege means there is nowhere for them to escape,” said Sonia Khush, Save the Children’s Syria response director.
“There must be an immediate halt to the fighting and an end to the siege.”
Moayad al-Hafi, a rescue worker, said his team was targeted as they retrieved bodies near here.
“As we were pulling out the children and the dead from under the rubble, they targeted us with five rockets — directly targeting us,” he said.
Recent attempts to bring the conflict’s protagonists and brokers to the table have floundered, but the UN made a fresh call this week for conflicting sides to halt fighting.
The US backed the plea, but Russia, a long-time ally of Syria’s government, shrugged it off.
“That is not realistic,” Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said at the UN.
A US military official said the US-led coalition had killed at least 100 pro-regime fighters overnight in eastern Syria.
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis dismissed suggestions that the US military was stumbling into Syria’s broader conflict.
He said the coalition had acted in self-defence after pro-government forces attacked an area under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
“They were moving with tanks, obviously in the same direction as they were firing.
“At the end of our effort to defend ourselves, their artillery was knocked out, two of their tanks were knocked out, they had casualties.”
Syrian state media confirmed dozens were killed, but appeared to deny the forces were soldiers, describing them as “popular forces”.
According to the Observatory, the forces that launched the attack on SDF positions were local tribal fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and Afghan Shia militia fighting alongside the regime.
In a letter addressed to the UN secretary-general, the Syrian Foreign Ministry described the strike a “war crime” and called for the coalition to be dismantled, Syrian state news agency Sana said.
“We demand (that the international community) condemn this massacre and hold the coalition responsible for it.”