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Fresh regime strikes kill 24 civilians: ‘Russia, Iran must help end massacre in Syria’

By AFP
February 22, 2018

BERLIN: Germany on Wednesday urged Russia and Iran to push the Syrian regime to end the deadly airstrikes on rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, noting that the two had pledged to be guarantors of peace in Syria.

"One has to ask where is Russia, where is Iran, which had pledged in Astana to guarantee a ceasefire also in Eastern Ghouta," said Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, referring to peace talks in the Kazakh capital.

"Without the support of these two allies, Assad’s regime would not be where it is today, and undoubtedly, without this support, this regime would have to show more readiness to negotiate in the UN (peace) process," the German government spokesman added.

"We demand that the Assad regime immediately end the massacre in Ghouta and allow in humanitarian aid as well as medical evacuation. We also demand that the backers of the Assad regime use their strong influence to achieve this end," Seibert said.

The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepped up its airstrikes this month on the rebel enclave east of Damascus, where close to 300 civilians have been killed since Sunday. Warplanes continued to pound Eastern Ghouta towns on Wednesday, killing 24 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The International Committee of the Red Cross asked Wednesday for access to an enclave near Syria’s capital where a regime aerial campaign has killed over 300 civilians and wounded 1,400 others this week.

"The fighting appears likely to cause much more suffering in the days and weeks ahead, and our teams need to be allowed to enter Eastern Ghouta to aid the wounded," said Marianne Gasser, ICRC’s head of delegation in Syria.

Meanwhile, fresh air strikes by the Syrian regime on Eastern Ghouta killed at least 24 people on Wednesday, bringing the civilian death toll in the rebel-held enclave this week close to 300. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the latest victims were killed by raids on the towns of Jisreen and Kfar Batna, where it said barrel bombs were used.

Residents of Syria’s eastern Ghouta district said they were waiting their "turn to die" on Wednesday, amid one of the most intense bombardments of the war by pro-government forces on the besieged, rebel-held enclave near Damascus.

The eastern Ghouta, a densely populated agricultural district on the Damascus outskirts, is the last major area near the capital still under rebel control. Home to 400,000 people, it has been besieged by government forces for years. A massive escalation in bombardment, including rocket fire, shelling, air strikes and helicopter-dropped barrel bombs, since

Sunday has become one of the deadliest of the Syrian civil war, now entering its eighth year.

"We are waiting our turn to die. This is the only thing I can say," said Bilal Abu Salah, 22, whose wife is five months pregnant with their first child in the biggest eastern Ghouta town Douma.

They fear the terror of the bombardment will bring her into labour early, he said. "Nearly all people living here live in shelters now. There are five or six families in one home. There is no food, no markets," he said.

Photographs taken in eastern Ghouta on Wednesday showed men searching through the rubble of smashed buildings, carrying blood-smeared people to hospital and cowering in debris-strewn streets.

An air strike warning system run by the Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue service in opposition areas, was by Wednesday afternoon sending alerts every few minutes, triggered when warplanes are spotted taking off from air bases.