(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 3 people were killed early Saturday in Harasta suburb as regime forces stepped up its bloody offensive on the embattled eastern enclave of Damascus, local activists said.
The Civil Defense rescuing agency said regime forces have pounded Eastern Ghouta with more than 100 rockets loaded with White Phosphorus.
The regime warplanes supported by Russia continued their relentless bombardment Ghouta for the seventh day.
The Assad army dropped leaflets on Thursday calling on residents to leave for their own safety and urging opposition fighters to hand themselves over, telling residents that they are surrounded from all sides by the Syrian army.
The number of casualties has overwhelmed rescuers and doctors at hospitals, many of which have also been bombed. World leaders a day earlier called for an urgent cease-fire in Syria to allow relief agencies to deliver aid and evacuate the critically sick and wounded from besieged areas to receive medical care.
The UN Security Council which is struggling to agree a resolution seeking a ceasefire in Syria and has put back a vote until Saturday.
The vote has already been delayed several times since Thursday.
Russia wanted changes to a draft that calls for a 30-day calm to allow for aid deliveries and medical evacuations.
Western diplomats have accused Russia, Syria's key ally, of stalling for time. France said failure to act may spell the end of the UN itself.
Minds have been focused amid outrage at the plight of civilians in the Eastern Ghouta.
Activists say 462 people have now been killed there this week.
Eleven rebel and civil groups based in Eastern Ghouta called on the UN to end the Assad massacres, saying Russia is a partner in Gouta’s bloodshed along with Iran and Hezbollah militia.
The United States, the UK and France had called for the resolution to be approved without delay. UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura said a truce had to be followed by immediate, unhindered access to the Eastern Ghouta.
Well-informed sources told Zaman al-Wasl that Russia had supplied the regime forces with urgent shipments of weapons and air bombs a day before regime forces launched an all-out offensive to seize the eastern enclave of Damascus.
Most of ammunition and weapons were delivered to Al-Dumayr military airport, 30 miles (45 km) east of the capital and located at the eastern gate of embattled Ghouta suburbs.
With Agencies
Zaman Al Wasl
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