Syrian father recounts life in Eastern Ghouta as 'hell'

By Burak Milli

HATAY, Turkey (AA) - A Syrian father has been living in Turkey since 2015 to seek treatment for his minor son who partially lost his hearing and speech following airstrikes by the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Mohammed Recep, 29, who currently lives in southeastern Hatay province, recalled the "tales from hell", a reference to the regime atrocities in his hometown Eastern Ghouta.

He lost his year-old baby boy Yesir and wife Sirgel in an airstrike on his house in 2015.

“The bomb that hit our home was enough to make our lives miserable,” he said.

"We lived in hell in Eastern Ghouta,” Recep said. “We were kept in captivity in our own land, and led a life in starvation and poverty.”

The strike left his 5-year-old son Yousuf with a hearing and speech impairment. It also burned most of the boy's body for which he has received treatment.

"I will never forget the trauma my son has suffered. We could stand the hunger but our children couldn't."

Recep also lost a sibling and his sister-in-law in the airstrike.

"The attack took away everything I considered precious."

Home to 400,000 residents, Eastern Ghouta has remained under a crippling regime siege for the last five years, which has prevented the delivery of much needed humanitarian supplies.

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

At least 70 civilians were killed after the regime forces struck targets in Eastern Ghouta’s Douma district in an attack on Saturday, in which toxic gas appears to have been used, according to the White Helmets.