(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 5 civilians killed and dozen more wounded in regime air strikes on the besieged Eastern Ghouta suburbs, Civil Defense rescuing group said on Saturday.
The regime air force conducted more than 30 raids since early morning, pounding most of the eastern suburbs of the capital amid reports of major attack to overrun the embattled enclave, according to local reporter.
Saturday's air strikes targeted the towns of Irbin, Harasta, Madyar and Nashabiya.
Eastern Ghouta is a densely populated pocket of towns and farms and the only major rebel stronghold near the capital Damascus. The military has steadily defeated pockets of armed rebellion in western Syria over the past year, with the help of Russian air power and Iranian-backed militias.
The United Nations has pleaded for the government to allow evacuation of around 500 patients, including children with cancer, and has said there was no excuse for not permitting their evacuation to go ahead, Reuters reported.
Although Eastern Ghouta is officially a “de-escalation zone” under Russian-led ceasefire deals for rebel territory, fighting there has continued. The population, including 130,000 children, is suffering the worst malnutrition seen in the almost seven-year war, the U.N. has said.
Residents and aid workers said the regime has tightened the siege in recent months in what they called a deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war, a charge the government denies.
Zaman Al Wasl
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