Hundreds of people are fleeing advances by Syrian government forces in eastern Ghouta, a war monitor and a resident said on Sunday, as Damascus presses an offensive to crush the last major rebel stronghold near the capital.
Government forces are thrusting into the besieged rebel enclave from its eastern edge in an apparent bid to split it in two — a pattern of attack used repeatedly by Damascus and its allies in the war entering its eighth year.
Orient TV, which supports the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said advances by pro-Assad forces had triggered large-scale displacement.
Photo: EPA-EFE
People were seeking shelter in areas closer to the center of eastern Ghouta, said the resident, who estimated that thousands were on the move.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based organization which reports on the war, estimated that between 300 and 400 families had fled, adding that government bombardment was focused on the town of Mesraba.
Damascus, backed by Russia and Iran, has been waging one of the deadliest offensives of the war in eastern Ghouta, killing hundreds of people in a fierce air and artillery bombardment over the past two weeks.
The UN Security Council demanded a 30-day countrywide ceasefire a week ago, but this has failed to take effect.
Russia has instead called for daily, five-hour humanitarian ceasefires to allow for aid deliveries and evacuations of civilians and wounded.
However, no aid has been delivered, and the US Department of State has called the Russian plan a “joke.”
The Russian military said militants in eastern Ghouta had imposed a curfew in areas under their control to prevent civilians from leaving through a humanitarian corridor during the truce, Interfax news agency reported.
Rebel officials have consistently denied stopping civilians from leaving.
A UN official in Syria told reporters that a humanitarian convoy carrying life-saving supplies from the UN and other aid agencies would not enter eastern Ghouta as had been planned yesterday, citing a lack of permission.
Western diplomats said that the Syrian government had not given the final clearances needed for safe access.
The convoy of some 40 trucks had been due to go to Douma in the government-besieged enclave near Damascus, where some 400,000 people need food, medical and other supplies, the UN said.
Only one small convoy with supplies for 7,200 people has been allowed into Ghouta so far this year, in the middle of last month.
A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, drew a parallel with rebel-held eastern Aleppo, where no aid convoys were allowed to enter in late 2016 before it fell to government forces: “Similar to the lack of approval to get aid into East Aleppo — lots of talk and no action.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia