Fresh regime attacks kill 6 in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta

By Adham Kako

EASTERN GHOUTA/ANKARA (AA) – Six civilians have been killed in fresh regime airstrikes in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, according to a local civil defense official on Sunday.

The attacks targeted several towns in the suburb, the official said on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

Two children and a woman were among the victims, the sources said.

Notably, Eastern Ghouta falls within a network of de-escalation zones -- endorsed by Turkey, Russia and Iran -- in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

Nevertheless, the Syrian regime continues to target residential parts of the city, killing at least 539 people -- and injuring more than 2,000 others -- since Dec. 29 of last year.

Home to some 400,000 civilian residents, Eastern Ghouta has remained under a crippling regime siege for the last five years.

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

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