In the crowd of killing as a result of the intensive escalation on the besieged Ghouta…those who are not killed by the aerial and ground shelling by the regime and its allies, will be killed by hunger
During 72 consecutive hours… the death and injury of 1725 citizens at least and destroying 5 hospitals and medical points by the shelling by about 2800 raids, missiles, explosive barrels and shells
There is no place for resentment against the insanity and hysteria of the murderers of people of the besieged Ghouta, as there is no time today for its towns and cities except for death, where those who did not die by shelling would die by another way, and they are many, from a sniper bullet to shelling by mortar, artillery, tanks shells, rocket launchers, missiles believed to be ground-to-ground, to the airstrikes, a new killer, the death by explosive barrels, is added, thus, this new killer gave the chance unleashed the deadly trio in the Eastern Ghouta, to overdo in killing its people, increasing the suffering of the Eastern Ghouta and increasing its tragedy, and the cries of the residents reached the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights complaining the horror of the shelling, where one of them told the Syrian Observatory saying “those who were not killed by the regime’s missiles, the shells and raids by its warplanes as well as the Russian strikes…will be killed by hunger”, and the local and medic sources described the situation as catastrophic, where the shops were closed, and the shelling did not leave a save place for the citizens even in their homes, thus, hunger started to infiltrate to children, and the lack of food increased and doubled the suffering of the patients, after the successive destruction of medical points and hospitals in the eastern Ghouta.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored that the Eastern Ghouta has been targeted since Sunday evening the 18th of February 2018, by about 2800 raids, missiles, explosive barrels and shells, where the warplanes carried out about 384 airstrikes, while the regime’s helicopters dropped more than 110 explosive barrels, and the regime forces shelled the besieged Ghouta by more than 1439 missiles, in conjunction with shelling by about 840 artillery shelling, this shelling left hundreds of casualties and wounded, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented back then the death of 275 persons at least including 67 children and 42 citizen women, and the casualties are: 11 citizens including 2 children where killed in bombardment by helicopters by explosive barrels on Kafr Batna town and airstrikes on Jisrayn town, 120 citizens including 26 children and 16 women were killed on Tuesday, in the shelling on the areas of Nashabiyah, Otaya, Arbin, Zamalka Mesraba, Hamuriya, and Ash’ari, 127 citizens including 34 children and 23 women were killed on Monday, in the aerial and ground bombardment on Hamuriya, Beit Sawa and Saqba, Douma , Mesraba, Otaya, Nashabiyah, Zamalka, Aftries, KafrBatna, Al-Shifonyyah and Jesrin, 17 citizens including 5 children and 3 citizen women were killed on the evening of Sunday, in aerial, missile and artillery bombardments on Saqba, Mesraba, Otaya and Ashari area, and also the shelling has injured about 1450 civilians with varying severity.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored a decrease in the chances for the wounded to receive treatment, or even rescue the critical cases, due to the fierce and savage shelling, which deliberately targeted civilian areas, and destructed 5 hospitals and medical points until now, which are: Dar Al-Shifaa Hospital in Hamouriyyah, a medical point in Kafr Batna, Arbin Surgical Hospital in Arbin city, and 2 other hospitals in Saqba, and got them out of service, to decrease the ability of medical capacity even more, and crowd the places with the wounded who flock as a result of intensive and continuous shelling by the regime forces, led by the Brigadier Suhail Al-Hassan, which paves the way for a wide military operation in the Eastern Ghouta, through which the regime forces aim to regain the control of it, this tragic medical reality comes with the absence of full sections in the Eastern Ghouta as a result of the lack of the specialists, where there is only one doctor for each of the specialties of vascular surgery and neurosurgery, while there are no doctors specialized in internal and heart diseases, while there is one doctor at least for gynecological diseases, who came from the east of the capital Damascus after the regime forces took the control of the neighborhoods of the east of Damascus, and after the only doctor specialized in gynecological diseases was killed during the fighting between Al-Rahman Corps and Jaysh Al-Islam in April 2016, and this tragic reality comes with the shortage of many medicines including antibiotics, antipyretics, and other medicines needed for emergency aid.
The killing in Ghouta came after a long hunger and a prevention to enter food and medicine to this area, which has been besieged for years and which includes hundreds of thousands of citizens, thus, the siege, hunger, and disease were a deadly trio which is the alternative killer in the case of the absence of the shelling, increasing the tragedy of the citizens even more, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored today, Wednesday the 21st of February 2018, the closure of shops and the lack of food, in the crowd on this intensive shelling on the besieged Ghouta, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored during the past few weeks, a list of the prices of the main supplies needed at easy home, in which the price of a package of bread reaches about SP 1900 ( $ 5 ) the price of sugar is SP 2400 ( $ 6 ), the price of rice is SP 2600, the price of Bulgur is SP 2400, the price of wheat SP 1600, the price of a kilogram of flour reaches SP 3000, the price of salt reaches the same price of the flour, the price of the vegetable oil reaches SP 3500, the olive oil reaches double of the price of the vegetable oil, all of this came with the absence of the nature gas, while the other fuels of petrol and diesel fuel are presented at high prices, in which the price of a liter of petrol reaches SP 8000 which equals $ 21, while the price of the diesel fuel is SP 5000, and as a result of the lack of heating substances, the sale of firewood for heating appeared, in which the price of a kilogram of the firewood is SP 400, and the sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that some traders are able to bring foodstuffs, from time to time, through the checkpoints of the regime, but at first they have to pay taxes and bribes to the checkpoint, rated by SP 3000 for each kilogram, while the financial and alimentary conditions of some citizens dropped greatly, which led them to sell their land to people who are outside the Eastern Ghouta in return for sending them money for their living, while others sell their homes, and others head to the kitchens of the factions operating in the Eastern Ghouta, to get meals, while the rest depend on the aid of the relief organizations operating in the Eastern Ghouta.