The Syrian civil war, now in its fifth year, has resulted in the deaths of at least 250,000 people and made the country the world’s single-largest source of refugees and displaced people, according to the UN.
Advertisement
Mohammed Rayhan was assumed to be among more than 100 people killed when Syrian government forces bombed a market place in Douma, just north-east of Damascus, over the weekend in the single deadliest attack on the countryside town.
The series of strikes, several of which hit a crowded marketplace in the Eastern Ghouta region town, killed mostly civilians.
Syria has not commented on the attacks, except for to criticize United Nations officials who condemned the incident.
His story is being heralded as extraordinary but the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said similar episodes are happening all the time in Syria now.
The New York-based group said the Sunday attack on Douma showed the government’s “appalling disregard for civilians”.
HRW noted that Douma, as well as other parts of rebel bastion Eastern Ghouta, are regularly targeted in regime air strikes that disproportionately kill civilians.
Much of the worldwide community blamed Syria’s government for that attack, though it denied responsibility.
HRW said the Security Council should also demand that the government lift the unlawful siege on eastern Ghouta, which restricts civilians, the wounded, and the sick from being able to leave the area and impedes the delivery of humanitarian and medical assistance and goods needed for survival.
He says the Security Council should bring the same commitment to ending indiscriminate strikes on civilians as it has to chemical attacks.
Advertisement
“How many more lives will be lost before the Security Council enforces its own words?”
