A “humanitarian pause” announced by Russia in Syria’s deadly bombardment of Eastern Ghouta failed to end violence, with fresh bloodshed and no sign of aid deliveries or residents leaving the besieged enclave.
Nine days after Russian-backed regime forces intensified their campaign against the rebel-held enclave, the deal offered some respite to civilians who had been hiding in their basements.
But the first day of a five-hour daily “pause” that was ordered by President Vladimir Putin on Sunday and kicked off at 9:00 am was marred by violence that saw seven people killed yesterday.
The regime deployed buses at the Al-Wafideen checkpoint to transport residents wanting to use a humanitarian corridor to flee what UN chief Antonio Guterres last called “hell on Earth”.
But no civilians were seen venturing towards the regime forces guarding the checkpoint, where large portraits of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Putin could be seen side-by-side.
Some residents left the basements they had been cowering in for days to check on their property and buy food.
But many in the enclave, which lies on the eastern outskirts of the Syrian capital, appeared distrustful of a “pause” announced by Damascus’s main ally. “This Russian truce is a farce. Russia is killing us and bombing us every day,” said Samer al-
Since February 18, 582 civilians, almost a quarter of them children, have been killed in the Syrian and Russian bombardment of Eastern Ghouta, making it one of the bloodiest episodes of the country’s seven-year-old conflict.
Fourteen of the dead, including five children, were pulled from the rubble yesterday after being killed in the past two days, said the Observatory.