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In a matter of days, Syrian regime airstrikes killed hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta in Damascus.

Since 5 February, Bashar al-Assad's regime has intensified its bombardment of the besieged area outside of Damascus, killing more than hundreds.

In one of the deadliest strikes, at least 9 children and 12 adults were killed when a market in the town of Arbin was bombed, according to the Syrian Observatory.

"These are the worst four days that Eastern Ghouta has ever gone through," said Hamza, a doctor at a clinic in Arbin, told AFP news agency.

"As a doctor, the hardest thing you can do is to treat your loved ones, your colleagues, your neighbours, your relatives," he added, breaking down.

Eastern Ghouta is a large area comprising a number of towns and villages, including Arbin.



Arbin was one of the areas hardest hit by the recent spike in regime-perpetrated carnage.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), last week’s assault on Arbin began on a Monday, when fifteen airstrikes hit the town, killing five and injuring 18 others. In the following day's barrage, another seven were killed and 165 injured. Wednesday’s airstrikes killed 13, including four children.

Western powers have expressed alarm over the regime's campaign against Eastern Ghouta, where 400,000 people have been besieged since 2013, facing severe food and medicine shortages.

The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire in Syria to allow for urgent deliveries of humanitarian aid.

The Syrian conflict began when the Baath regime, in power since 1963 and led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded with military force to peaceful protests demanding democratic reforms during the Arab Spring wave of uprisings, triggering an armed rebellion fuelled by mass defections from the Syrian army.

According to independent monitors, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in the war, mostly by the regime and its powerful allies, and millions have been displaced both inside and outside of Syria. 

The brutal tactics pursued mainly by the regime, which have included the use of chemical weapons, sieges, mass executions and torture against civilians have led to war crimes investigations.


Qusay Noor is a journalist and photographer from Eastern Ghouta in Syria. Follow him on Twitter: _