Attacks on Eastern Ghouta Kill Dozens of Civilians

Dozens of civilians were killed on Tuesday in airstrikes on the besieged suburbs east of the capital Damascus, the Associated Press reported, citing rescue workers and a war monitor.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that more than 70 people were killed in Tuesday’s attacks. Syrian Civil Defense rescue workers put the death toll at 55, the AP said.

The SOHR said Tuesday’s death toll was the highest recorded in Eastern Ghouta in more than a month.

Tuesday’s attack comes one day after airstrikes and shelling on Eastern Ghouta killed almost 30 people. On Sunday medics and rescue workers accused the government of launching a chemical weapons attack that caused breathing difficulties in at least nine people.

Syrian troops backed by Russian warplanes have stepped up attacks on the rebel enclave since late December. More than 350 civilians, including 80 children, have been killed since the start of the campaign, the SOHR said, according to the AP.

Escalated attacks have compounded the dire humanitarian situation for the 400,000 people trapped in the opposition enclave with limited access to food and medicine.

U.N.: Violence in De-Escalation Zones Makes a ‘Mockery’ of Agreement

An upsurge in attacks on so-called de-escalation zones in Syria has made a “mockery” of the accord, a U.N.-mandated committee said on Tuesday, according to the U.N. News Centre.

The comments by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry come after stepped-up attacks on Idlib and Eastern Ghouta this week killed scores of civilians and reportedly targeted hospitals and medical facilities.

The two rebel bastions were designated so-called de-escalation zones by Turkey, Russia and Iran during talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana in May.

“These reports are extremely troubling, and make a mockery of the so-called ‘de-escalation zones’ intended to protect civilians from such bombardment,” said commission chair Paulo Pinheiro.

“The parties to this conflict are failing in their obligations under international humanitarian law, including their absolute obligation to refrain from attacks against medical facilities and personnel,” he added.

Meanwhile, the U.N.’s assistant secretary-general and humanitarian coordinator in Syria, Panos Moumtzis, said the U.N. could “no longer stay silent,” in the light of stepped-up attacks on de-escalation zones in the country.

“There is a misperception that the de-escalation areas have resulted in peace and stability. If anything, these have been serious escalation areas,” he was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

“We feel really outraged. Dramatic developments have been building up and it has reached a point where we can no longer stay silent. These are multiple fires we have to respond to, with a dramatic deterioration in many places.”

Senior U.N. officials on Tuesday also called for an immediate one-month cease-fire in Syria to ease what they described as an “extreme situation” in the war-torn country.

Syrian Army Says It Intercepted Israeli Missiles

The Syrian army on Wednesday said it intercepted an Israeli missile attack on a military outpost near Damascus, Agence France-Presse reported.

“This morning, Israeli warplanes fired several missiles from Lebanese airspace on one of our military positions in the Damascus countryside,” said a military statement carried by Syrian state media, according to AFP. “Our air defense systems blocked them and destroyed most of them.”

Citing the SOHR, AFP said that “at least some Israeli missiles” had struck an ammunitions depot in the Damascus suburb of Jamraya, which lies 7 miles (just over 10km) northwest of the capital.

It was not immediately clear whether the strike caused any material damage.

According to the AP, Wednesday’s report was the second time in less than a month that the Syrian army has said that it intercepted an Israeli attack on one of its positions.

On January 9, the Syrian army accused Israel of firing missiles at a military outpost in the Qutayfeh suburb of Damascus.

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