Report Says Russian Lunch Air Strikes in Syrian City of Douma Leaving at Least 23 Dead Including Children

Russian war planes are believed to be responsible for air strikes that killed 23 civilians, including six children, in a rebel-held town in the suburbs of Damascus. The strikes hit the centre of the town of Douma, Syria, today, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports, and graphic images have emerged from the scene.

The monitor said the strikes appeared to be carries out by Russian planes participating in an aerial campaign launched on September 30. Rebels in Douma, which lies in the opposition stronghold of Eastern Ghouta, regularly fire rockets into the capital and the area is frequently the target of government air strikes and shelling.

The observatory said at least six children and seven women were among the dead and reported that the death toll could rise further because of the number of people seriously wounded. In a field clinic, a child lay on a bed with a tube taped into the side of his bare and bloodied ribcage as medical workers tried to assess him.

Nearby, a man with a chunk of flesh gouged out of his left leg moaned and held his head as doctors worked on him. Last month, at least 70 people were killed in a single day of bombing on the town, according to Doctors Without Borders. And in August, 117 people were killed there in one day of air raids, causing a global outcry.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said today that the death toll from Thursday's air strikes on the town of Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq had risen to 71 people, at least 53 of them civilians. The other 18 people killed were too badly burned to be initially identified, the group said.

Russian officials deny their air strikes have hit civilians and say they focus their attacks on militant groups. Yet, the observatory said it has recorded more deaths among civilians than militants since the Russian air campaign began.

Meanwhile today, the Islamic State terror group freed Assyrian Christians they had taken hostage in north-eastern Syria, an NGO said.

The group consisted of 27 women and 10 men, most of them elderly, the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights reported. They arrived this morning in the town of Tal Tamr in the Khabur region of Hasakeh province in the north-east of the country, the monitor said.

The releases were confirmed by the monitorwhich said most of those freed were from other towns in Khabur. The former hostages were among a group of 220 Assyrians captured by ISIS when it overran parts of the region in February.

Since then, some prisoners have been released, but between 140 and 150 are still believed to be held by the jihadis.  The Assyrian Monitor said the releases were the result of negotiations, but other reports suggest ISIS was paid to free the hostages.

 

 

 

 

Source - Dailymail