A general view shows a Syrian air force Su-17 fighter plane flying over the besieged rebel-held town of Hamouria in the eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus on March 3, 2018. (AFP)
Fresh air raids by the Syrian regime on the besieged rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta killed at least 14 overnight, a monitor said Monday.
The Syrian Observatory said barrel bombs -- crude, improvised munitions that cause indiscriminate damage -- were used, including on the town of Hammuriyeh, where 10 people were killed.
The latest deaths brought to 709 the number of civilians killed since regime and allied Russian forces intensified their campaign against Eastern Ghouta in February.
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Desperate for food and basic medicines, many of the besieged and bombarded Syrian civilians in Damascus’ eastern suburbs of Ghouta waited on Monday as a 46-truck convoy organized by the key aid agencies began entering the rebel-held enclave.
The delivery would be the first to the region in
nearly three weeks. officials had said lack of approvals and consensus among the warring parties, as well as the limited duration of a daily,
five-hour Russian pause, had made aid delivery
impossible.
The only delivery of assistance to eastern Ghouta so far this year was
on February 14, when a convoy with assistance for 7,200 people reached
Nashabiyah, a town in the suburbs.
Monday’s announcement came a day after troops recaptured
Nashabiyah and a number of villages and farms in eastern Ghouta in the largest advances since the government’s wide-scale operation began last month.
Advances by forces in eastern Ghouta, a war monitor said on Sunday to the last major rebel stronghold near the capital.
300 to 400 had fled, adding that bombardment was focused on the town of Mesraba.
the US State Department has called the Russian plan a “joke”, aid has been delivered after forcing
five-hour Russian pause however Russian military said militants in eastern Ghouta had imposed a curfew in areas under their control to prevent them from leaving through a humanitarian corridor during the truce, Interfax news agency reported. Rebel officials have consistently denied stopping them from leaving.
Following a deadly wave of air strikes and shelling, fighting on the ground has intensified in recent days, and the regime now “controls 10 percent of the besieged Eastern Ghouta region,”
Military said on Sunday four soldiers and 10 militants were killed in a military operation against Daesh militants.
Deaths raise military casualties to at least 16 dead, along with more than 100 militants, since the start of the operation on Feb. 9, according to previous army tolls.
The
Syrian government, meanwhile, said it achieved “significant” progress in its ongoing military operation in rebel-held suburbs east of Damascus, seizing around
36 percent of the total area held by different armed groups.
Syria’s Central Military Media said troops continued their advance from the east and were only 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from meeting up with troops advancing from the west, which would cut eastern Ghouta into two parts.
Turkish air strikes killed at least 36 pro-regime fighters battling in the enclave of Afrin on Saturday, the Observatory said.
Turkish air strikes killed at least 36 pro-regime fighters battling alongside the Kurds in the enclave of Afrin on Saturday, the Observatory said.
Turkish-led forces control more than 20 percent of the enclave after seizing the area of Rajo in the northwest of Afrin on Saturday.
