Strike on Ghouta kills 17 children sheltering in school: monitor

An air strike on a school in Eastern Ghouta late Monday killed 17 children and two women who were using its basement as a bomb shelter, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bombing raid hit Arbin, a key town in a dwindling rebel-held pocket of Ghouta that has been under attack by government troops for over a month.

After the time consuming and cautious excavation of a woman encased in rubble, the realization she is alive compels a frenzy of excitement from the #WhiteHelmets. Every victim saved is a triumph for the Syrian Civil Defense and for humanity altogether. #Douma city #Syria 19 Mar pic.twitter.com/6i9DDkMkwz
— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) March 19, 2018

Early Monday, 20 more civilians have died in a resumption of regime bombing on Douma, the largest town in Eastern Ghouta, a monitor said.

Thirteen were killed late Sunday in air strikes and artillery fire on the battered town, and another seven were killed Monday morning, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The fresh bloodshed came after a week-long lull in the bombardment of Douma after negotiations between rebels and regime-backer Russia allowed medical evacuations from the town.

After the bombing an AFP correspondent saw two rescue workers scouring mountains of rubble in the dark with tiny flashlights, searching for survivors.

A third lifted a wounded person, who was screaming in pain, onto his back.

As morning broke, the sounds of shelling could still be heard across the city. Entire buildings had been gutted by strikes, with a drying rack, glass, and plastic piping spilling out into the streets.

Several members of a single family remained stuck underneath a collapsed building all night, including a handicapped mother, her son, and her grandson, AFP's correspondent said.

Syria's government has pressed a ferocious month-long air and ground on Ghouta in a bid to clear the last rebel bastion on the capital's outskirts.

More than 1,400 civilians including 281 children have been killed, according to the Britain-based Observatory.

Troops have captured more than 80 percent of the enclave and split the remaining rebel territory into three pockets, with Douma in the northernmost zone.

Talks between regime ally Russia and the rebel group which holds Douma, Jaish al-Islam, had resulted in a brief respite for the town.

During the lull, hundreds of people including sick and wounded were evacuated from Douma to government-controlled territory.

The regime troops and allied militia are also pressing their assault on other parts of the enclave, with government air strikes killing five civilians in another zone on Monday, according to the Observatory.

The deadly raids came as more than 4,000 civilians fled a southern pocket of Ghouta.

The Observatory says nearly 70,000 people have escaped Ghouta in recent days to government-held zones, using "corridors" opened by Syria's army.

In the southern suburbs of Damascus, the regime is planning to deport ISIS fighters to a territory at the edge of the Israeli-Occupied Golan Heights, sources told Zaman al-Wasl.

Yarmouk Basin, which is under the control of Jaish Khaled Bin Walid, an ISIS affiliated group, is seemed to be the last destination of ISIS fightaers who based in Qadam and Yarmouk Camp.

The negotiations with Daesh are still underway as logistic obstacles may push the regime to use its jets to evacuate the militants and drop them in Yarmouk basin since the area in in western Daraa countryside is serrounded by the US-backed Southern Front.

Jaish Khaled Bin Walid was formed in May 2016, and is an alliance of several jihadist groups, the largest of them the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, which was listed by Washington as a terrorist group.

The Observatory said Jaish Khaled Bin Walid is estimated to have some 1,200 fighters, and controls territory , along the border with the Occupied Golan Heights.

The regime forces and Daesh fighters on Saturday agreed to cease fighting after four days of clashes.

The Assad army ordered ISIS to retreat from al-Qadam to the adjacent neighborhood of al-Hajar al-Aswad, four days after rebels evacuated the district to northern Idlib province.

300 fighters were evacuated from al-Qadam to northern Idlib province to escape regime control on Tuesday, according to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

"An agreement reached in September 2017 between the regime and Islamist factions, including Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham [HTS], was implemented today," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

HTS is made up mostly of former members of Al-Qaeda's ex-affiliate in Syria. The other main group present in Qadam was Ajnad al-Sham.

"At least 1,300 people, including fighters with their relatives, have been transferred," the Britain-based Observatory's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said.

Syria's regime has managed to retake several areas around Damascus with a combination of evacuations and "reconciliation" deals that see rebelling towns brought back under regime control.

The regime is waging a fierce air and ground offensive but also pursuing talks with armed groups still holding the rump of the rebel enclave. (Zaman Al Wasl, Agencies)