Regime attacks kill 18 in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta

By Adham Kako

EASTERN GHOUTA/ANKARA (AA) - Eighteen civilians were killed in Syria's Eastern Ghouta region on Monday by regime air and artillery attacks, Anadolu Agency correspondents reported from Damascus.

Nine civilians were killed in the town of Madyara, correspondents said, while another seven were killed in the Duma district and one each in the Arbin and Misraba districts.

Since Nov. 14, Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, has been the target of fierce regime attacks that have left more than 130 people dead and injured hundreds more.

The Syrian regime has continued to target the area even though it falls within a network of de-escalation zones -- endorsed by Turkey, Russia, and Iran -- in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating civil war that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting and more than 10 million displaced, according to claims by the UN.