Assad regime shelling kills 7 civilians in E.Ghouta

DAMASCUS

At least seven civilians have been killed in regime shelling in the Eastern Ghouta region east of the capital Damascus, pro-opposition Syrian civil defense sources said.

The sources told Anadolu Agency that intense regime shelling left five children, a woman, and a man dead in Douma city.

A number of injured people were transferred to nearby medical points.

According to eyewitnesses, regime airstrikes and shelling hit also the town of Arbin and the villages of Zamalka, Hamouriyah, and Medira.

Eastern Ghouta has recently witnessed intense shelling by the Assad regime that has reportedly left 70 people dead.

Although Eastern Ghouta falls within a network of de-escalation zones in which acts of aggression are expressly forbidden, regime forces have repeatedly attacked the district this week, leaving dozens of civilians dead or 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.

Reporting by Mohamed Misto; Writing by Mahmoud Barakat