‘Humanitarian Pause’ in Syria: More Fighting, More Death
ent forces are trying to storm the front." Sana, Syria’s state news agency, said
that "terrorist groups targeted five missiles at the designated passage for the exit of civilians to prevent them from leaving and continue to use them as human shields." Ghouta has been devastated by years of warfare, including a 2013 poison gas attack that killed hundreds of people, sickened thousands, and was blamed by Western authorities on the Assad regime. that Pro-governm
The eastern part of Ghouta is the last major rebel-held area near Damascus, and the Islamist groups
that control it — labeled terrorists by the Syrian and Russian governments — have fired shells at government-held areas in and around the capital, though not nearly on the same scale as the incoming bombardment.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — In Damascus suburbs that have been under ferocious attack by the Syrian government, the first day of a Russia-declared cease-fire on Tuesday
failed to yield the promised results: Civilians did not evacuate, the wounded were not ferried out, humanitarian aid did not flow in, and fighting persisted.
In the last 10 days, the Syrian government has undertaken one of the most intense bombardments of the offensive against eastern Ghouta,
which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, says has killed more than 500 people and injured thousands.
Dmitri S. Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said
that whether the pauses will continue depends on the rebels and "whether they continue to open fire and whether provocations continue and so on." Civilians say that if they leave besieged areas, they risk permanent displacement from their homes, or arrest, conscription or even death at the hands of the government.
Russia, an ally of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, called on Monday for a daily, five-hour suspension of
fighting in eastern Ghouta, just two days after the United Nations called for a 30-day, nationwide cease-fire.
Douma said that Shelling is calmer than before, it’s true, but there is still shelling,
