A doctor working in East ghouta, told Bi-bi-si that the situation in this area is a full-scale humanitarian disaster. According to him, the international community turned away from the people living here.
Photo: Reuters
“We have nothing: no food, no medicine, no shelter, said Dr. Bassam in interview Bi-bi-si. — We have no bread. Nothing.”
“Every minute we applied from 10 to 20 air strikes”, — said the doctor.
This area, located near the capital of Syria, Damascus, was bombed in the last few days, killing at least 250 people.
The Syrian army says it wants thus to free the territory from terrorists.
“They hit everything: shopping, markets, hospitals, schools, mosques, said Dr Bassam. I wish to offer someone help, and in a day or two they come back again is hurt.”
“Where is the international community, where the Security Council? They had abandoned us. They left us to die,” he says .
What is happening in Eastern ghouta?
On Sunday evening, Pro-government forces, backed by Russia has intensified its attempts to take control of the last major district in the hands of the rebels.
One of the locals Firaz Abdullah told Bi-bi-si, that to hide from air strikes is simply nowhere: “We heard coming from the Windows and the shouts and cries of women and children who were in homes. And the shells were falling on us constantly. There’s nowhere to hide from this nightmare, and it continues.”
According to activists, killed more than 50 children, 1200 injured.
The UN called for a ceasefire to evacuate the wounded and deliver in the area of humanitarian assistance.
In East Huta became a stronghold of the Islamist group “Jaish al-Islam”, however there is also a Alliance of jihadists “Hayat Tahrir al-sham”, which is headed by the former commander of “al-Qaeda” in Syria.
New players change the balance of power
Seven years have passed, and the Syrian war is not coming to an end, it changes.
President Assad seems to be trying to clean up this last major enclave near Damascus — East ghouta. This would help it to strengthen its positions in the capital and would be an important moment in the war.
However, Syria is mired in a web of war and interests of major players, which guarantees the escalation of the conflict.
In the North are fighting for the influence of several forces: Russia, Iran, Turkey and the United States. British special forces there too.
Iran is perceived as a particularly serious threat to the Americans, the Israelis, who are more and more drawn into this conflict, and the Saudis, who are the last players in this war.
The balance of power is changing, but the bloodshed continues, and quite obviously, no end in sight.
Jeremy Bowen, a columnist for the bi-Bi-si on the Middle East
How difficult situation in the enclave?
According to activists, this is the worst after a chemical attack of 2013, the situation in the area, which means Russia, Iran and Turkey as a zone of de-escalation.
According to them, at least 10 towns and villages in Eastern ghouta on Tuesday was subjected to continuous air strikes.
UN spokesman Panos, Moumtzis reported that in the area Monday and Tuesday’s air strikes were subjected to at least six hospitals.
Panos, Moumtzis said that such attacks can be classified as war crimes.
From the end of November last year, the authorities made one humanitarian convoy to Eastern ghouta, where there is an acute shortage of food.
A loaf of bread there costs 22 times more than the national average, and 12% of children under five suffer from malnutrition.
What is the situation in other parts of Syria?
On Tuesday, Syrian Pro-government forces entered the village South of the Turkish border, the Kurdish enclave of Afrin.
Turkey is trying to push back Kurdish militiamen from Afrin, who appealed for help to the Syrian army.
Syria called Turkey’s actions “blatant aggression” and encroachment on its sovereignty. But the Turks are not going to retreat.
Syrian government troops backed by Russian aircraft and Iran’s militias also are offensive in the northwestern province of Idlib.
According to the UN, since December due to the military operations here more than 300 thousand people lost shelter.
Meanwhile, the Russian foreign Ministry officially confirmed that Syria has wounded dozens of Russians and citizens of other CIS countries, and some of them died.
See also
Again the bombing, death and destruction. What happens in the vicinity of Damascus
The UN has said about 1,000 of the victims of air strikes in Syria for the first week of February
