Attacks kill 47 in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta

By Adham Kako

EASTERN GHOUTA, Syria / ANKARA, Turkey (AA) – At least 47 people have been killed in two days of attacks in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, according to sources with the White Helmets civil defense agency.

The besieged district has been under intensive airstrikes and shelling by regime and Russian warplanes since Friday, the sources said on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

Civil defense teams are struggling to reach to victims under the debris of destroyed buildings, the sources said.

On Friday, the UN expressed concern over the rising airstrikes in Eastern Ghouta.

Civilians have been evacuated from Eastern Ghouta since March 22 under a Russia-brokered agreement between the Bashar al-Assad regime and armed opposition groups.

Evacuations from Eastern Ghouta’s Arbin, Zamalka and Ayn Tarma neighborhoods were conducted this week, but agreement has yet to be reached regarding Duma.

On Apr. 2, as talks between Russia and Jaish al-Islam (an armed opposition group operating in Eastern Ghouta) were underway, evacuations began from Duma, with some 5,000 civilians leaving the area for opposition-held areas in northern Syria.

According to local sources, Friday’s airstrikes were prompted by a disagreement between Russia and the Jaish al-Islam, with the latter insisting that Duma be included in the evacuation process.

Roughly 100,000 people live in Duma, a regime-besieged neighborhood of Eastern Ghouta that is approximately seven square kilometers in size.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in early 2011 when the regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

According to UN officials, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict to date.