45 Civilians Killed in Strikes on Eastern Ghouta
Airstrikes on a rebel-held area east of Damascus Sunday killed as many as 45 civilians, AFP reports.
The strikes hit the towns of Douma, Harasta, Saqba and Arbin in the now infamous opposition area of eastern Ghouta, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
At least 10 children and four women were among the dead, and dozens were wounded, said Observatory chief Rami Abdulrahman.
“One of the airstrikes on Douma hit near a school, killing the school’s principal,” he said.
According to an account by an AFP photographer on the scene, Douma’s streets were littered with rubble and shards of glass, and children’s shoes, notebooks and schoolbags were scattered across the bloodstained floor of a schoolyard.
Government forces, including Russian warplanes, regularly bomb eastern Ghouta. Rebels in the area, most of whom belong to Jaish al-Islam, frequently fire mortar shells into government areas of the capital.
Rebels Fire Volley of Mortars on Damascus
Rebels in besieged areas east of Damascus fired volleys of mortars into the government-held areas of the capital on Sunday, killing three people, including a child, the Associated Press reports.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, nearly 40 shells hit Damascus on Sunday.
The Assad government responded by heavily shelling the capital’s eastern opposition areas.
The mortar attacks on Damascus came as U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien was visiting the capital to review humanitarian work and assess how intensified fighting and military activity impact people’s lives.
No Negotiations With Armed Groups: Assad
In an apparent attempt to ruin peace talks that Russia and the U.S. hoped would begin next month, Bashar al-Assad said Friday he would refuse to negotiate with armed groups, Reuters reports.
Assad’s announcement came one day after more than 100 members of Syria’s opposition and about a dozen representatives of armed rebel groups ranging from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) to Islamist groups agreed on a joint way forward to negotiations with the Assad government.
Assad said he would not engage in political talks with any armed groups, accusing Washington and Saudi Arabia of attempting to bring “terrorist groups” into the negotiations.
In an interview on Thursday with the Spanish state news agency EFE, Assad said Syria had contact with armed groups for one reason only: “to reach a situation where they give up their armaments and either join the government or go back to their normal life … This is the only way to deal with the militants in Syria.
“There’s no point in meeting in New York or anywhere else without defining terrorist groups,” he said. “For us, in Syria, everyone who holds a machine gun is a terrorist.”
Recommended Reads
- Carnegie Endowment: Syria’s Opposition Conferences: Results and Expectations
- Associated Press: Putin Seeks Closer Ties With West in Syria, Says Russia Provides Air Cover to Opposition Group
- The New York Times: In Besieged Syrian City, a Pastry Chef Turned Activist Fears a Truce
- The Guardian: Life Stirs in Homs as Syrian Rebels Withdraw: ‘In Our Minds We Knew We Would Return’
- The Guardian: Syriac Christian Women Take Up Kalashnikovs to Fight Islamic State
Top image: Syrian president Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE in Damascus, on Friday, Dec. 11, 2015. Assad said in the interview that Saudi Arabia, the United States and some Western countries want “terrorist groups” to join peace negotiations to try end Syria’s civil war. The Syrian government refers to all insurgent groups as terrorists. (SANA via AP)