Children, who have been hurt in the latest bombing in Damascus on Monday, are crying at a hospital. BEIRUT, Feb 20 (AP): A Syrian monitoring group and paramedics say government shelling and air strikes on rebel-held suburbs of the capital, Damascus, killed at least 98 people on Monday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it was the deadliest day in three years in the area known as Eastern Ghouta.
The Syrian Civil Defence, also known as White Helmets, said the shelling and airstrikes killed 98 and that some people are still under the rubble.
The Observatory says 20 children and 15 women were among those killed on Monday.
The targeted suburbs have been subjected to weeks-long bombardment that has killed and wounded hundreds of people.
Opposition activists say government forces have brought in reinforcements in preparation for a wider offensive on the area - the last main rebel stronghold near Damascus.
A Reuters report adds: A surge in attacks by the Syrian government and its allies killed 94 people in the rebel pocket of eastern Ghouta in the space of 24 hours, a war monitoring group said on Monday.
Air strikes, rocket fire and shelling on the besieged suburbs of Damascus also wounded another 325 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
There was no comment from the Syrian military. The Damascus government says it only targets militants.
Factions in Ghouta fired mortars at districts of Damascus, killing a child and wounding eight others, Syrian state media said. Troops and allied forces struck militant targets there in response, the state news agency SANA said.
The United Nations says nearly 400,000 people live in eastern Ghouta, a pocket of satellite towns and farms under government siege since 2013.
Panos Moumtzis, UN regional coordinator for the Syria crisis, said an "extreme escalation in hostilities" had killed at least 40 civilians and injured more than 150 on Monday.
"The humanitarian situation of civilians in East Ghouta is spiraling out of control," he said in a statement. "Many residents have little choice but to take shelter in basements and underground bunkers with their children."
The British-based Observatory said the latest escalation started on Sunday, and the dead included 18 children.
The local civil defence group said warplanes and artillery had pounded Saqba, Jisreen, and other towns. The rescue service, which operates in rebel territory, said strikes killed 20 people and wounded dozens in the town of Hammouriyeh alone on Monday.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
