Three civilians killed in night raids on Douma: activists

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Three civilians killed in night raids on the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta suburbs, topping the death toll of Thursday’s airstrikes to 11, local activists and Civil Defense rescuing group said.

Eight 8 civilians, including children, were also killed in the besieged suburbs as regime forces stepped up aerial and ground bombardments.

The civilian death toll in Ghouta since the regime and its ally Russia intensified their bombardment on February 18 topped 600, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 147 of the 601 civilians killed, mostly in air strikes, were children.

The United Nations said Thursday it hoped aid convoys could head into Eastern Ghouta within days, after the regime appeared to have finally provided authorization.

"We may now be able to go to eastern Ghouta in the next few days," Jan Egeland said, head of the U.N.'s humanitarian taskforce for Syria.

He told reporters in Geneva that he had received word during a taskforce meeting Thursday "that we may have the first facilitation letter, permit from the regime, to go to [the main eastern Ghouta town of] Douma in a very long time."

But he stressed that the five-hour daily "humanitarian pause" in fighting declared by Russia for the enclave was not enough to allow aid deliveries or ensure orderly medical evacuations.

"Five hours is not enough," he insisted, underscoring that aid deliveries take time and that an estimated 1,000 civilians also desperately needed medical evacuation.

More than 40 trucks loaded with much needed aid have so far been unable to reach the 400,000 people living in the battered enclave.

Egeland's comments came as civilians in eastern Ghouta continued to shun Russia's offer to quit the area, and as rebels and Moscow blamed each other for the humanitarian deadlock.

A five-hour daily "pause" announced by Moscow Monday has led to a reduction in the bombardment that killed hundreds in only a few days and sparked global outrage last month.

But the humanitarian corridor offered by Russia for civilians to flee has remained ostensibly empty for a third day, with distrust running high on both sides.

At least 1339 people killed in February by regime forces and allied militias in Syria, 67% of them from Ghouta, according the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

Rebels said Wednesday that hey had killed 15 troops and wounded 20 more in the Hawsh al-Dawahra area at the eastern edge of the rebel-held suburbs.

The Observatory reported advances by the regime forces in the area, describing it as the resumption of an assault that first began on Feb. 25. It said rebels had inflicted heavy losses on regime forces.

Rebels said at least 140 regime troops killed since Syria and its ally Russia intensified their bombardment of the rebel enclave on February 18, where the regime forces seized only 1 km2.

Zaman Al Wasl