ANKARA
Persistent airstrikes and shelling by the Syrian military is increasing the suffering of civilians in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb east of Damascus, who continue live under extreme hardship as they struggle to cope with rampant insecurity and a lack of food and clean water, according to Amnesty International.
In a report released Wednesday, the rights watchdog asserted that frequent regime attacks in Eastern Ghouta constituted a “systematic attack on the civilian population, amounting to crimes against humanity”.
According to the report, more than 163,000 people in the area were living “under siege” as a result of persistent regime attacks.
“For nearly three years, the lives of civilians in Eastern Ghouta have been devastated by bloodshed and tragedy,” the report quoted Said Boumedouha, acting director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program, as saying.
“They are trapped and surrounded by fighting on all fronts, with no means of escaping the unlawful aerial and shelling attacks waged by government forces,” Boumedouha said.
He added: “Syrian government forces have committed war crimes and have displayed a sinister callousness towards Eastern Ghouta’s civilians.”
The report also cited frequent Syrian regime attacks on places frequented by civilians, including public markets and schools.
Syria’s ongoing civil war has led to the death of more than 220,000 people, with more than four million Syrians fleeing the war-torn country since violence first erupted in 2011, according to UN figures.
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