SYRIA: #EasternGhouta was still reeling from one of its bloodiest days when fresh regime strikes hit today, killing 15 more civilians: image via Jean-Marc Mojon @mojobeirut, 7 February 2018

BREAKING: Fresh Syrian air strikes on #EasternGhouta Wednesday kill 7: monitor @AFP Death toll for Tuesday reached at least 80, worst bloodshed in #Syria in months: image via Jean-Marc Mojon @mojobeirut, 7 February 2018

Today 6 February 2018 No Words Photo ABDULMONAM EASSA Via @AFPphoto: image via Abdulmonam Eassa @abdfree2, 6 February 2018

Bloody warplane, blood thirsty. It's killing children in #EasternGhouta now. #ChildrenUnderAttack By: @amer_almohibany: image via Amer almohibany@amer_almohibany@amer_almohibany, 7 February 2018

MiG-23 jet dropping its payload on #EasternGhouta today @AFPphoto @amer_almohibany #Syria #Damascus: image via Jean-Marc Mojon @mojobeirut, 7 February 2018

#Hamoria Today. Feb 07 2018 Photo Via @AFPphoto: image via Abdulmonam Eassa @abdfree2, 7 February 2018

A very sad Syrian family portrait. They were all killed in yesterday’s heavy regime and Russian strikes on the rebel-held city of Douma, e- Ghouta.: image via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

#Syria: At least 22 civilians killed, 100 wounded in multiple heavy Russian and regime airstrikes across rebel-held parts of e-Ghouta since 10AM.: image via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

We saw many Syrians being heavily bombed by Russians and regime in the past days. There are no red lines left to cross. E- Ghouta is a new dark chapter in our history...: tweet via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

#Syria: Death toll of the ongoing Russian and regime airstrikes on the rebel-held cities and villages in Eastern-Ghouta, Damascus has risen to at least 35 since this morning.: tweet via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

At least 200 Syrians killed, 800 injured and 5 hospitals destroyed in heavy regime and Russian airstrikes across rebel-held cities and towns in Aleppo, Idlib and e- Ghouta since January 29. Two hundred civilians! And the death toll is rising by the minute.: tweet via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

8 days in 2018: 8 Syrians killed. 12 Syrians killed. 18 Syrians killed. 23 Syrians killed. 47 Syrians killed. 55 Syrians killed. 60 Syrians killed. 67 Syrians killed. 75 Syrians killed. 91 Syrians killed. 115 Syrians killed. 320 Syrians killed. But, ah, no one cares anymore...:: tweet via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

She is a victim of our collective failure and silence. We are just watching...: image via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

We are watching families saying a last goodbye to their beloved relatives...: image via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

We are watching children being pulled dead or alive from the rubble...: image via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

We are watching people fighting for someone else’s life...: image via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

We are watching bodies being wrapped in blood-soaked white sheets...: image via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

But we are deaf to Syria’s screams.: image via Sakir Khader @sakirkhader, 7 February 2018

Today 6 February 2018 No Words Photo ABDULMONAM EASSA Via @AFPphoto: image via Abdulmonam Eassa @abdfree2, 6 February 2018

Today 6 February 2018 No Words Photo ABDULMONAM EASSA Via @AFPphoto: image via Abdulmonam Eassa @abdfree2, 6 February 2018

SYRIA: 3 days of regime air strikes and bloodshed in #EasternGhouta: - Monday: 31 killed - Tuesday: 80 killed - Wednesday: 30 killed @AFPphoto #Syria #Douma: tweet via Jean-Marc Mojon @mojobeirut, 7 February 2018

Un enfant blessé aujourd'hui lors de raids aériens du régime syrien sur la #Ghouta orientale, près de #Damas @AFPphoto #Syria #Douma: image via Jean-Marc Mojon @mojobeirut, 7 February 2018

Death all over Syria, from south to north bloodshed is all over, Many pure lives are being taken away and we are useless, helpless capable of nothing but to pray. Those children have died in the last 24 hours losing their rights, hopes and dreams for future.! @savechildrenuk: image via Zouhir_AlShimale @ZouhirAlShimale, 7 February 2018

#Douma again 5 civilians were killed and many others injured, after another aerial attack on Douma city. #CivilDefense teams rushed to help the wounded. and continue the rescue operation.: image via The White Helmets @SyriaCivilDef, 7 February 2018

Death toll soars as Syria government pounds rebel enclave: Eastern Ghouta suffered some of its worst bloodshed in years on Tuesday with the death toll continuing to mount: Middle East Eye and agencies, 7 February 2018

A Syrian civil defence volunteer in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, on 6 February: photo by AFP, 6 February 2018

Fresh government strikes killed 23 civilians, including five children, on Wednesday in a rebel-held enclave near Damascus where overwhelmed medics were still treating the survivors of the Syrian conflict's bloodiest day in months.

The district of Eastern Ghouta, controlled by rebel factions, suffered some of its worst bloodshed in years on Tuesday and the toll continued to mount overnight.

"The civilian toll is now 80. Two wounded people died after midnight," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"This was the highest civilian toll in Syria in nearly nine months, and one of the bloodiest days for Eastern Ghouta in several years," the head of the Britain-based monitoring group told AFP.

Nineteen children and 20 women are among the dead, and around 200 were wounded.

There was no respite for Ghouta residents as government warplanes returned on Wednesday morning and carried out strikes that killed 15 civilians and wounded dozens.

Eight were killed in the town of Hammuriyeh, four in the town of Beit Sawa, and three in the main town of Douma, the Observatory said.

Civilians had been bracing for more raids as the government appeared intent on ratcheting up the pressure on Eastern Ghouta, a rebel pocket on the capital's doorstep.

"Please break up all gatherings and clear the streets," blared an announcement from mosque minarets in Douma.

Surrounding areas and villages had been heavily battered by raids on Tuesday, flooding Douma's hospitals with wounded children.

Home to an estimated 400,000 people, the Eastern Ghouta region has been included in a de-escalation deal that was meant to bring calm to several zones across the country.

'Chlorine' use in Syria

But bombardment there has increased in recent days, including with suspected chlorine-filled munitions.

On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that "all indications" pointed to the Syrian government's use of chlorine weapons in Syria.

"All indications... tell us today that chlorine is being used by the regime at present in Syria," he told BFM television.

Chlorine is suspected of having been used on two occasions this month alone on Eastern Ghouta.

The US State Department said on Monday it had recorded six suspected chemical attacks in Syria in the past 30 days.

Syria has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. On Wednesday, Syria's army intercepted an Israeli attack on a military position in Jamraya, northwest of Damascus.

Jamraya is home to several military positions and a branch of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), suspected of playing a leading role in chemical weapons production.

An Israeli air strike hit the facility in May 2013.

"This morning, Israeli warplanes fired several missiles from Lebanese airspace on one of our military positions in the Damascus countryside," said an army statement carried by state media.

"Our air defence systems blocked them and destroyed most of them."

The Observatory said an arms depot in Jamraya had been hit, but it could not confirm whether research facilities had been damaged.

Breaking point

The United Nations has said it is looking into reports of chemical attacks in Syria, and called on Tuesday for a month-long ceasefire across the country for civilians' sake.

The de-escalation zones, according to the UN's regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, were not doing enough to stem the violence.

"There is a misperception that de-escalation areas have resulted in peace and stability," Panos Moumtzis told reporters in Beirut.

"Eastern Ghouta is as de-escalation area. If anything, there has been a serious escalation... The conflict in Syria is far from over," Moumtzis said.

The situation had grown more dire than ever because of the multiple fronts raging at the same time.

"It's the first time - between Eastern Ghouta, Idlib, Afrin - we have multiple fronts with people in extreme danger without a view to a solution," he said.

"Now, we feel we've reached a breaking point."

More than 340,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict in Syria erupted in March 2011.

'Only God can stop these bombs': Eastern Ghouta reels from Russian strikes: Death toll reaches 130 as Russia and Syrian forces continue to bomb Eastern Ghouta for third consecutive day: Areeb Ullah, Middle East Eye, 7 February 2018

A man holds a child after an airstrike in the besieged town of Douma, the last major rebel stronghold near Damascus, Syria Photo Bassam Khabieh: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 7 February 2018

It was around 11am when Russian and Syrian air strikes began hitting neighbourhoods across Eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus on Wednesday.

Homes across the rebel-held enclave vibrated with every explosion, as civilians huddled together in cellars and their homes waiting for the bombs to stop.

The third day of intense air strikes targeting the enclave saw the death toll reach 130 on Wednesday, according to monitoring groups and locals.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights dubbed Tuesday's death toll as the "largest massacre in Syria" since last April's chemical attacks in Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib.

We depend on wells that we've drilled for water. We know its unsafe, but there is no other option

-Amar al Bashy, Eastern Ghouta resident

With the continued shelling across Eastern Ghouta, Omran Aldoumani, an 18-year-old photographer, hid along with his family in their home in Douma.

"Massacres are happening daily, and we are sitting here unsure of what will happen next," said Aldoumani, who lives in eastern Ghouta, a designated de-escalation zone.

"Only God can stop these bombs," he told Middle East Eye.

De-escalation zones

Both Russia and Syria intensified air strikes on the rebel-held area after a hardline group downed a Russian warplane on Saturday.

The UN on Tuesday condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia for its escalation and said it made a "mockery" of the de-escalation zones, established to reduce the violence in Syria.

But the renewed bombing of Eastern Ghouta has proven otherwise.

The air strikes have hit residential areas, medical centres and markets. Schools were forced to close down for months to ensure the safety of children and teachers.

"There used to be some medical points, but four of them closed as a result of the shelling," said Amar al-Bashy, who lives in Eastern Ghouta.

"The remaining medical facilities are suffering a lack of basic medical supplies. People are feeling the fear. There are no shelters nor safe places to avoid the shelling," he told MEE.

'Lucky to have one meal'

Opposition rebels have held control of Eastern Ghouta since 2013.

Forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad have imposed a four-year-long siege and have continuously bombed the enclave in a bid to smoke out rebel groups.

Unlike other rebel-held territories, Eastern Ghouta has borne the brunt of Syria's ongoing civil war, from multiple chemical attacks to indiscriminate bombing of the area.

Food and water shortages have further compounded the precarious situation in the enclave with many scraping together what they can find to feed their families.

Late last year, the United Nations reported that nearly 12 percent of children under five in the area suffered from malnutrition - the highest rate recorded since the start of the war.

"UN aid is non-existent because Assad's regime is preventing them from entering east Ghouta," said al-Bashy.

"Since the siege began we've stopped having three meals a day. Most people now are lucky to have one meal a day, with many surviving on a single meal every two days or more.

"We depend on wells that we've drilled for water. We know its unsafe, but there is no other option," al-Bashy told MEE.

More than 470,000 Syrians have been killed in the ongoing civil war. Many thousands languish in refugee camps outside the country or remain internally displaced, as the war rages on.

For Aldoumani, like many Syrians living in eastern Ghouta unable to leave the rebel enclave, the air strikes have become a part of everyday life.

"With the shelling continuing for days, it has become part of everyday life for many Syrians in Eastern Ghouta," said Aldoumani.

"You get scared when the bombs get close to your home, but after a while, you get used to it."

A man runs after an air raid in Douma, as the United Nations demands a ceasefire amid air strikes on the last major rebel stronghold near Damascus, Syria Photo Bassam Khabieh: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 6 February 2018

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with law enforcement officials on the MS-13 street gang and border security, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018, in Washington.: photo by Evan Vucci/AP, 6 February 2018

#USA US President Donald Trump attends a roundtable discussion in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Photo @MandelNgan #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 6 February 2018

‘Extreme’ Suffering in Syria as Government Steps Up Bombing: Anne Barnard, The New York Times, 6 February 2018

An injured man is rescued from a building that was hit in an airstrike on Tuesday in the rebel-held area of Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/Agence France-Presse, 6 February 2018

BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least 80 people were killed on Tuesday in Syrian government air and artillery strikes on besieged suburbs of the capital, Damascus, one of the last rebel-held strongholds. It was the bloodiest day so far in a weekslong escalation that prompted United Nations officials to issue an unusual call for an immediate cease-fire.

The toll, compiled by rescue workers and rising into the night, came as at least six more people were killed in another rebel-held area, in the northern province of Idlib. There, in the past week alone, the government’s Russian-backed air war has damaged several hospitals and clinics and killed dozens of people, including many civilians.

United Nations humanitarian officials declared the situation “extreme” even for the nearly seven-year war, and called on Tuesday for an immediate cease-fire for at least a month to allow aid deliveries.

There was little hope, though, that a cease-fire would happen. Airstrikes appear to have intensified since Saturday, when insurgents shot down a Russian plane and killed the pilot. Russia, the main ally of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, says it is targeting rebel fighters, however residents have shown footage of babies being carried from hospitals and families being dug from rubble.

As the violence crescendos the government has not authorized a single aid delivery to besieged areas, or an evacuation for urgent medical treatment, in two months, United Nations officials say. That is even worse than the usual tensions around aid; the Syrian government approved just 27 percent of requested deliveries last year.

A Syrian child is treated at a makeshift hospital in the rebel-held town of Arbin after an airstrike on Monday.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/Agence France-Presse, 5 February 2018

“It’s our moral duty to speak up,” Assistant Secretary General Panos Moumtzis, the United Nations’ regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, told reporters in Beirut, speaking with a degree of emotion not usually conveyed in the United Nations’ carefully worded statements.

Mr. Moumtzis called the lack of aid delivery approvals “really outrageous,” and the rash of attacks on medical facilities “unacceptable.”

“Humanitarian diplomacy is failing,” he said. “We are not able to reach the conscience or the ears of politicians, of decision makers, of people in power.”

Mr. Moumtzis spoke as residents of Eastern Ghouta, the cluster of Damascus suburbs under bombardment, posted the names of the dead and photographs of the children who had died. They also posted videos of the shredded bodies of small children.

Hassan Tabajo said 25 people were killed in his town alone. They included a cousin, the 10th relative Mr. Tabajo had lost in the war, who was killed when his apartment building was hit. The building also housed a center that trained women in English and tailoring; three students and a teacher died.

Also Tuesday, rebel shelling killed three people in the government-held Old City of Damascus. The attack followed two others in the past week that killed at least 10 people, including several children.

Syrian rescue workers recovered people wounded in airstrikes on the rebel-held enclave of Kafr Batna near Damascus on Tuesday.: photo by Amer Almohibany/Agence France-Presse, 6 February 2018

The war in Syria has displaced half the population and killed some 400,000 people, but now the carnage is growing in many places at once. The government is carrying out scorched-earth attacks in two of the last major rebel-held areas — near Damascus and in Idlib — and Turkey is striking a Kurdish area on the northern border.

“There are multiple fronts where people are under extreme danger without a view to a solution,” Mr. Moumtzis said. “We haven’t seen this.”

Russia is supposed to be monitoring a reduction in violence in both Idlib and the Damascus suburbs, where the heaviest attacks are taking place. Russia says it is trying to push Mr. Assad to negotiate with his opponents, including with some of the armed factions, although so far he has shown no inclination.

The deal to ease violence in certain areas, brokered by Russia with Turkey and Iran — as well as the rout of the Islamic State from most of its territory last year — may have given people the false impression that the Syrian war was winding down, Mr. Moumtzis said.

“There is a misperception that the de-escalation areas have resulted in peace and stability,” he said. “If anything, these have been serious escalation areas.”

Yet Syria seems to have lost its hold on public attention, even though in the past year more than 8,000 people per day have been driven from their homes. In the north since mid-December, some 300,000 people have fled from their homes, some of them displaced for the second or third time.

Rescue workers search for survivors amid the rubble after airstrikes on the rebel-held town of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta suburbs.: photo by Hamza Al-Ajweh/Agence France-Presse, 6 February 2018

And more than 600 people are awaiting evacuation from the Damascus suburbs for urgent medical care, but no evacuations have been granted since 29 people were let out in November.

Mr. Moumtzis said the United Nations would “ask the government of Syria to stop besiegement,” and he condemned the lack of cooperation from some rebel groups on aid deliveries. He also pointedly cited “the failure of countries who are of influence to Damascus and others to bring the influence needed to ensure respect for human beings.”

Moaz al-Shami, an anti-government activist from the Idlib town of Saraqeb, said in an interview last week that he no longer knew why he risked his life to videotape attacks. “I don’t know what the point is,” he said.

Mr. Moumtzis contrasted the situation to the 1990s war in Bosnia, where the shelling of civilians buying bread helped galvanize international response.

“In Sarajevo we had the market massacre that woke up the conscience,” he said. But as larger death tolls in Syria receive less attention — airstrikes on marketplaces happen with some regularity — he said he wondered what level of violence it would take to shock the world into action.

“We are running out of words, to be honest, to describe it,” Mr. Moumtzis said.

Because we called for freedom, justice and dignity, and for that made great sacrifices, we are now buried beneath the rubble, with a vengeance, with not even a world war, but the spite of everyone #EasternGhouta #Syria: image via Amer almohibany @amer_almohibany, 7 February 2018

Traders signal offers in the S&P options pit at the Chicago Board Options Exchange #CBOE Photo: @olsongetty: image via Getty Images News @GettyImagesNews, 6 February 2018

Untitled | Kolkata, 2018: photo by Koushik Sinha Roy, 21 January 2018

2 comments:

Maureen8 February 2018 at 08:31

Syria is more horrific by the day. Meanwhile, the front pages serve up the nonsense of a military parade, a "show of might" that means nothing so long as America continues to do nothing.
TC8 February 2018 at 22:22
While you and this blogger named me may be aghast, Maureen, there are actually people now begging to... well, not so much differ on the subject of Syria as demonstrate... something.

It is thorny territory to walk through, currently, in The Valley of the Shadow.

Can't quite sort the details and implications of the several syria related plaints now sprouting up to litter the moderation box with argumentative sarcasm and prejudice posing as argument (one "comment" even a plaint about the moderation box itself, its very existence that is, as though I had invented it - proving once again the value of the moderation box!).

Might be more curious (patient) with this sort of thing had I not been attempting to sort out this horrible war since its brighter morning moments as a revolution in 2011, viewing the demise of that with growing dismay, getting old with that war which is now as old as forever, yet still expanding, getting worse... and did I not have to do surgery in the morning.

TOM CLARK

Thursday, 8 February 2018

Death all over Syria, and we are just watching, and we are deaf to the echoes of Syria's screams

'Chlorine' use in Syria

Breaking point

'Lucky to have one meal'

‘Extreme’ Suffering in Syria as Government Steps Up Bombing: Anne Barnard, The New York Times, 6 February 2018

An injured man is rescued from a building that was hit in an airstrike on Tuesday in the rebel-held area of Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/Agence France-Presse, 6 February 2018

An injured man is rescued from a building that was hit in an airstrike on Tuesday in the rebel-held area of Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/Agence France-Presse, 6 February 2018

2 comments: