A flurry of airstrikes against Eastern Ghouta, the rebel-held suburb of Damascus, have killed at least 23 people on Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. All slain were civilians.
Fighting over Eastern Ghouta has escalated in recent months, with government forces having pushed the rebels into a tight pocket of remaining territory. Syrian state media reported that rebels from the area shelled Damascus itself today, killing another civilian.
On top of that, at least 70 people were also wounded in Eastern Ghouta’s airstrikes, hitting a marketplace and other parts of the rebel-held area, with large amounts of casualties inflicted within.
Eastern Ghouta has been held by rebels longer than any other part of metro Damascus, but with the rebel-held area shrinking it’s less and less sustainable all the time, leading to questions about when a deal is going to be reached on evacuation of the final districts, and the siege is lifted.