Battle for Eastern Ghouta rages as death toll rises

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Basements in the besieged Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta are overflowing as residents seek shelter from the non-stop bombing and shelling. Despite a UN ceasefire, there have only been a few precious lulls in the attacks by Syrian government troops and their Russian allies.

The Al-Wafideen crossing is one of the two humanitarian corridors that the Syrian government has set up in coordination with Russia to allow civilians out of Eastern Ghouta.

The rebel-held suburb of Damascus has been the target of a relentless military campaign since February 18. The Syrian Army has since taken control over roughly half of the area, dividing it into three separate parts. The army said it could force the rebels to allow civilians to evacuate, although not if they use civilians as human shields.

The rebels said three weeks of air and artillery attacks have left more than 1,000 civilians dead inside Ghouta. On Monday, the largest rebel faction in Ghouta, the Army of Islam, said in a statement that it had reached an agreement with Russia – through the UN – to allow the sick and wounded out of Eastern Ghouta. However, government sources told CGTN the deal has yet to be finalized.

A boy is seen in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria, March 8, 2018. /Reuters Photo

The battle for Eastern Ghouta is becoming the largest conflict in the nearly eight-year civil war. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights puts the death toll for both sides of the war at over 350,000. Many experts and journalists inside Syria said the number could be much higher.

UNSC divide

The situation has escalated since the UN demanded a ceasefire last month. Now, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants action to get aid in and the injured out. He made his case during a Security Council meeting on Monday.

The United States is urging the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution ordering an immediate 30-day ceasefire in the Syrian capital and the suburbs of Eastern Ghouta. The US draft would eliminate what US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley called a “loophole” in the February 24 resolution that allows military operations against al-Qaida and ISIL extremist groups.

Haley accused Syria and its Russian allies of exploiting this loophole “to continue starving and pummeling hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrian civilians.”

The draft resolution requires all parties to allow “safe, unimpeded and sustained access” for humanitarian convoys and for medical evacuations. It also stresses that any movement of civilians must be “voluntary and to appropriate final destinations of their choice.” It asks Guterres “to urgently develop proposals” to monitor a ceasefire and civilian movements from eastern Ghouta.

CGTN screenshot of a Tweet by Russia's UN Mission, March 12, 2018.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said an immediate ceasefire in Syria “would have been utopian” and that Moscow prefers a preliminary agreement ahead of sustained de-escalation in all areas, not just the suburbs of Damascus.

Nebenzia told the UN Security Council on Monday that “this is the only realistic way forward,” and that it was part of a ceasefire adopted by the council last month. He said Russia is trying to implement that ceasefire, which has done little to stop the heavy fighting in Eastern Ghouta, outside the capital.

He defended Syrian and Russian military operations there, saying “the suburbs of Damascus cannot remain a hotbed of terrorism”, and accused militants, including those linked to al-Qaida, of undermining the truce.