Qatar decries ongoing regime attacks in Eastern Ghouta

By Ahmed al-Masri

DOHA, Qatar

The Qatari government on Wednesday condemned ongoing attacks by Syrian regime forces on the besieged Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta despite a recent UN resolution demanding a 30-day cease-fire in Syria.

In a meeting held in capital Doha, the government described the regime assaults in Eastern Ghouta as a "brazen violation of the UN Security Council resolution [adopted Saturday]", according to the official QNA news agency.

It called on the international community to implement the UN resolution with a view to "stopping the humanitarian tragedy" in the district and “standing up to defiance of the Syrian regime to international law and international legitimacy resolution”.

Since Feb. 19, escalating hostilities have resulted in 500 deaths and some 1,500 injuries in Eastern Ghouta, with 24 health facilities impacted by shelling and airstrikes, according to UN officials.

While the Assad regime airdrops messages telling the 400,000 residents of Ghouta to leave, Russia on Monday announced a five-hour daily "humanitarian pause" to allow civilian evacuation.

Eastern Ghouta falls within a network of de-escalation zones -- endorsed by Turkey, Russia and Iran -- in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since early 2011, when the regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

According to UN officials, to date hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.