Bombing continued in Syria’s besieged Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus even as the UN Security Council tries again to vote for a temporary ceasefire in the war-ravaged country Saturday.
Syrian activists said the regime fired thousands of artillery shells and rocket fire Friday night and Saturday, including incendiary bombs.
“They were bursting in the sky, and the colors were white and dark orange,” said Siraj Mahmoud, a spokesman for the White Helmets rescue group.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said shelling by “incendiary substances” caused fires in Eastern Ghouta.
At the UN Security Council, a draft resolution calling for a 30-day halt in fighting in Syria was to be put up for a vote at noon ET Saturday, according to council President Mansour Al-Otaibi. The truce would allow for the delivery of emergency aid and the evacuation of the wounded in some of Syria’s hardest-hit areas.
A vote was delayed several times Thursday and Friday after other members of the Security Council were unable to convince Russia to agree to a resolution.
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, was clear in blaming Russia for the lack of action.
“Unbelievable that Russia is stalling a vote on a ceasefire allowing humanitarian access in Syria. How many more people will die before the Security Council agrees to take up this vote?” Haley said Friday on Twitter.
Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, called the offensive in Eastern Ghouta a “crime against humanity” in a tweet Saturday, adding that the protection of civilians remains the responsibility of the international community.
More than 400 people have been killed since Sunday in the relentless bombardment of Eastern Ghouta by forces from the Russian-backed Syrian regime.
Around 400,000 people are in hiding as the Damascus suburbs have been pounded with shells, mortars and bombs since Sunday night.
Most of the dead are women, children and the elderly, Dr. Fayez Orabi, head of the enclave’s health department, told CNN in a series of WhatsApp messages.
“It’s difficult to have a precise count because of the internet and communications are weak and the shelling and bombing are 24 hours,” Orabi said. “During writing this message to you more than 20 rockets have fell around us,” he added.
Meanwhile, armed rebels in eastern Ghouta used “dozens of mortar and rocket shells and sniper fire” to target residential neighborhoods in Damascus, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported Saturday.
The attacks injured a number of civilians and caused material damage, according to SANA.