Syrian regime renews attacks on E. Ghouta despite truce

By Mohamed Misto, Levent Tok and Adham Kako

DAMASCUS

Syria’s Assad regime on Wednesday renewed its bombardments of Eastern Ghouta, a Damascus suburb, despite a cease-fire announced one day earlier.

On Tuesday, the Assad regime agreed to a Russian-proposed cease-fire in Eastern Ghouta, according to UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura.

Artillery shells struck Eastern Ghouta’s Harasta district near the town of Arbin, along with the towns of Masriya and Ain Terma, injuring at least one person, local civil-defense sources told Anadolu Agency.

Since Nov. 14, Eastern Ghouta has remained the target of fierce regime attacks, in which more than 130 people have been killed and many more injured.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating civil war that began in early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.