By Adham Kako
EASTERN GHOUTA / ANKARA (AA): Twenty-eight civilians were killed Wednesday by Syrian Government airstrikes in besieged Eastern Ghouta, according to rebels’ civil defense agency. The agency does not give number of rebel fighters killed.
The Government’s continued ground and air attacks on Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, come despite separate cease-fire initiatives endorsed by Russia and the UN Security Council.
In attacks since Wednesday morning, ground attacks and airstrike targeted Eastern Ghouta’s Douma and Haresta districts and the Sakba, Ayn Terma, Arbin, Hammuriyah, Beit Sawa, Jisrin, Misraba and Kafr Batna regions.
According to the White Helmets civil defense agency, today’s deadliest bombardment — which left 20 people dead, most of them children and women — took place in Hammuriyah, Eastern Ghouta. Casualties from the ongoing regime raids may rise, said the agency.
Since Feb. 19, at least 834 people have been killed in Eastern Ghouta, and the death toll is expected to rise further.
Many civilians have been killed in Damascus due to shelling by the rebels from Eastern Ghouta.
The largest rebel group in Eastern Ghouta is Jaysh al Islam with an estimated 15,000 members, is considered as a terrorist group by the Syrian Government.
Additional report by The Muslim News
[Photo: A man carries a wounded Syrian after Government’s attacks over Zamalka suburb of the Eastern Ghouta region, on March 07, 2018. Photographer: Mohammed Al Shami/AA]