[Comment] Death and suffering in Eastern Ghouta, Syria: a call for action to protect civilians and health care

Since Feb 4, 2018, Syrian forces with Russian support have bombarded Eastern Ghouta, an enclave out of government control near Damascus. This military action has killed hundreds of civilians and injured more than 1550 people as of Feb 21, 2018,1 in an area where about 390  000 people, most of whom are civilians, have lived under siege since October, 2013. The recent escalation is reportedly part of a Syrian Government offensive supported by its Russian and Iranian allies to retake Ghouta. In just 1 day, on Feb 20, 2018, PAX, an international peace movement, documen ted 110 civilians killed and hundreds injured in 131 air strikes, 44 barrel bombs, 28 surface-to-surface “elephant” missiles, five cluster bombs, and countless other artillery and rocket fire.

Source: LANCET - February 26, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Samer Jabbour, Fouad M Fouad, Jennifer Leaning, Donna McKay, Rabie Nasser, Leonard S Rubenstein, Annie Sparrow, Paul Spiegel, Ahmad Tarakji, Ronald Waldman, Rola Hallam, Denis Mukwege, Ghanem Tayara Tags: Comment Source Type: research