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Syria war: Fresh strikes on besieged Eastern Ghouta kill dozens Syria war: '250 killed' in Eastern Ghouta bombardment
(about 3 hours later)
More than 60 civilians have reportedly been killed in fresh Syrian government attacks on the besieged rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus. The death toll from two days of bombing by Syria's government of a rebel-held area has risen to 250, reports say.
First responders from the Syria Civil Defence said air and artillery strikes on the town of Marj left 24 dead there. It is the worst violence in the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus since 2013, according to activists. More than 50 children are among the dead, they say.
A monitoring group said 127 civilians were killed on Monday in the deadliest day for three years in the enclave, where some 393,000 people are trapped. The UN has warned that the situation is "spiralling out of control".
The UN has warned that the situation there is "spiralling out of control". Meanwhile the Damascus government has sent forces to confront Turkish troops who have crossed the border to push back the Kurds in northern Syria.
It has said the indiscriminate bombardment of the Eastern Ghouta must stop immediately and called for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered and hundreds of critically sick and wounded patients to be evacuated. Turkey fired shells near the advancing columns, which, it claims, forced the pro-government fighters into retreat.
What's happening on the ground?
Activists said at least 10 towns and villages across the region came under renewed bombardment by the Syrian government and its allies on Tuesday.
The Syria Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are commonly known as the White Helmets, said five women and children were among the 24 people killed in Marj. Another seven civilians died as a result of strikes on Arbin, it added.
The Local Co-ordination Committees, an opposition activist network, reported that 77 civilians had been killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, put the death toll at 66, including 15 children.
It said 210 people had now been killed and 850 wounded since the government bombardment intensified on Sunday night.
Syrian state television meanwhile reported that at least six people living in government-controlled areas of eastern Damascus were killed and 28 others wounded by shells fired by rebels based in the Eastern Ghouta.
The Syrian military has not commented on the reports from the Eastern Ghouta, but said it carried out "precision strikes" on areas from which the shells were launched.The Syrian military has not commented on the reports from the Eastern Ghouta, but said it carried out "precision strikes" on areas from which the shells were launched.
A UN spokesperson said at least six hospitals had been hit in the area on Monday and Tuesday.
What's happening in the Eastern Ghouta?
The Eastern Ghouta is the last major rebel stronghold near Damascus. Pro-government forces - backed by Russia - intensified their efforts to retake it on Sunday night.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said at least 250 had been killed in air strikes and artillery fire since then.
It said it the highest 48-hour death toll since a 2013 chemical attack on the besieged enclave. About 1,200 people have been injured.
Activists said at least 10 towns and villages across the Eastern Ghouta came under renewed bombardment on Tuesday.
The UN called for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered and the wounded to be evacuated.
The horror reaches new extremes
By Sebastian Usher, BBC Middle East analyst
The people of the Eastern Ghouta have suffered devastation many times before, but little on this scale.
It is not just the human cost, but the targeting of the last vestiges of the area's infrastructure.
The UN says six hospitals have been hit - making it even harder to treat the latest victims - while schools and homes have been bombed.
The message from the warplanes in the sky seems to be that there is nowhere left to hide - the government's long war of attrition now taken to the extreme in a final effort to force the surrender of this last rebel bastion on the fringe of Damascus.
The usual chorus of international outrage is rising once again, but so far with no effect. The UN's children's agency simply issued a blank statement, saying it had no words left to do justice to the horror.
How bad is the situation in the enclave?How bad is the situation in the enclave?
A local doctor told the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM), which supports medical facilities in the Eastern Ghouta, that it was "catastrophic".A local doctor told the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM), which supports medical facilities in the Eastern Ghouta, that it was "catastrophic".
"People have nowhere to turn," he said. "They are trying to survive but their hunger from the siege has weakened them significantly.""People have nowhere to turn," he said. "They are trying to survive but their hunger from the siege has weakened them significantly."
The UN's Regional Humanitarian Co-ordinator for the Syria Crisis, Panos Moumtzis, said he was "appalled and distressed" by reports that several hospitals in the Eastern Ghouta had been deliberately targeted since Monday, warning that such attacks might amount to war crimes. The UN's co-ordinator in Syria, Panos Moumtzis, said he was "appalled" by reports that hospitals had been deliberately targeted, warning that such attacks might amount to war crimes.
Five hospitals in Marj, Saqba and Douma were left inoperable or partially functioning after reported government strikes on Monday, while on Tuesday a hospital in Zamalka was hit, according to Mr Moumtzis.Five hospitals in Marj, Saqba and Douma were left inoperable or partially functioning after reported government strikes on Monday, while on Tuesday a hospital in Zamalka was hit, according to Mr Moumtzis.
The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) said a hospital in Arbin was also struck on Tuesday and put out of service. The Syrian Observatory said the facility was targeted by Russian warplanes, which are supporting government forces. The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) said a hospital in Arbin was also put out of service on Tuesday. The Syrian Observatory said the facility was targeted by Russian warplanes.
With the government only allowing one humanitarian convoy into the Eastern Ghouta since late November, there are also severe shortages of food. A bundle of bread now costs close to 22 times the national average and 11.9% of children under five years old are acutely malnourished. The government has allowed one humanitarian convoy into the Eastern Ghouta since late November, and there are severe shortages of food.
The Eastern Ghouta is the last major rebel stronghold near Damascus. It is dominated by the Islamist faction Jaysh al-Islam. But Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist alliance led by al-Qaeda's former affiliate in Syria, also operates there. A bundle of bread now costs close to 22 times the national average and 12% of children under five years old are said to be acutely malnourished.
The region has been designated a "de-escalation zone" by Russia and Iran, the government's main allies, along with Turkey, which backs the rebels. But hostilities intensified in mid-November, when the Syrian military stepped up air and artillery attacks on the enclave in response to a rebel offensive. The Eastern Ghouta is dominated by the Islamist faction Jaysh al-Islam. But Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist alliance led by al-Qaeda's former affiliate in Syria, also operates there.
Why has the government intensified its bombardment? The region has been designated a "de-escalation zone" by Russia and Iran, the government's main allies, along with Turkey, which backs the rebels, but hostilities intensified in mid-November.
By Sebastian Usher, BBC Middle East analyst What else is going on in Syria?
The Syrian government is taking its tactic of attrition to the extreme in the Eastern Ghouta. On Tuesday, Syrian pro-government forces entered the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, just south of the Turkish border.
That strategy has finally brought other rebel holdouts to submission, most notably Aleppo. The intensity of bombardments from land and air appear aimed at devastating every last vestige of the makeshift infrastructure that has just about been sustaining life for the area's 390,000 inhabitants. Turkey is trying to oust the Kurdish militia, which have semi-autonomous rule of the area and which have called on the Syrian military for help.
The irony of the region being designated a "de-escalation zone" has never been so stark. International outrage and calls for a ceasefire are rising, but President Assad has been here before. Syria has denounced the Turkish offensive as a "blatant attack" on its sovereignty, while Turkey has insisted it will not back down.
With Russia and Iran calling the shots in Syria, he seems to feel sufficiently emboldened to try to crush the last rebel bastion near Damascus, whatever the cost in civilian lives. Syrian government forces, supported by Russian air strikes and Iran-backed militias, are also carrying out offensives on the north-western province of Idlib.
The UN says more than 300,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Idlib since December.
Meanwhile, Russia's foreign ministry acknowledged that dozens of its citizens and people from other former Soviet states were killed or wounded in a recent battle.
It gave no details, but it is believed to be a reference to an incident in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour on 7 February, when the US military said it had killed an estimated 100 pro-Syrian government fighters in response to an attack on an allied, Kurdish-led militia force battling Islamic State militants in the area.