BEIRUT/GENEVA: Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed to continue an offensive in eastern Ghouta near Damascus on Sunday as his forces advanced into the last major rebel enclave near the capital.
The offensive is one of the deadliest in the war and one local insurgent group called it a “scorched earth” campaign.
The government is pressing on despite Western calls for it to abide by a 30-day, countrywide cease-fire demanded by the UN Security Council.
“We will continue fighting terrorism ... and the Ghouta operation is a continuation of fighting terrorism,” Assad said in comments to journalists broadcast on state TV.
The advances have forced thousands of civilians to flee deeper into the rebel-held territory, where some 400,000 people live, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a resident said on Sunday.
Government forces need to advance just a few more kilometers (miles) further to split the enclave in two, said a commander in the military alliance that backs Assad. The Observatory said government forces had seized a quarter of the territory.
Assad said there was no contradiction between daily, five-hour humanitarian cease-fires called by his ally Russia, and ongoing combat operations, noting that advances by government forces in the last few days had occurred during the truce.
The Russian cease-fire plan calls for five-hour pauses to allow for aid deliveries and evacuations of civilians and wounded. The US State Department has called the Russian plan a “joke.”
Assad, in his first comments on the offensive, said most people in Ghouta wanted to return to state rule.
“Therefore we must continue with the operation and in parallel open the way for civilians to leave,” he said.
Russia and Damascus have accused rebels of preventing civilians from leaving eastern Ghouta during the daily cease-fires. Rebels have consistently denied this accusation and say people will not leave because they fear the government.
A UN humanitarian official said people in eastern Ghouta were being subjected to unacceptable “collective punishment,” which is illegal under the Geneva Conventions.
Assad dismissed Western statements about the humanitarian situation in eastern Ghouta as “a ridiculous lie.”
With the war entering its eighth year, capturing the eastern Ghouta area would be a major victory for Assad, who has steadily recovered control of rebellious areas with Russian and Iranian support.
French President Emmanuel Macron asked his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani to put pressure on the Syrian government to end attacks against the Ghouta region and to allow humanitarian aid to flow.
British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed in a phone call with US President Donald Trump that Russia must use its influence to make Damascus cease the eastern Ghouta campaign, May’s office said.
Without decisive Western pressure to halt the offensive, eastern Ghouta appears on course to meet the same fate as other rebel areas retaken by Assad, such as eastern Aleppo, recovered using similar tactics of siege, bombardment and ground assaults.
Rebels eventually withdrew from eastern Aleppo in late 2016 in a mediated deal, leaving to opposition-held territory near the Turkish border.
The multi-sided war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people since 2011, has escalated on several fronts this year, as the collapse of Daesh has given way to other conflicts between Syrian and international parties.
“SCORCHED EARTH“
One of the main insurgent groups in eastern Ghouta, Jaish Al-Islam, said the government’s “scorched earth policy” had forced rebels to retreat and regroup, but vowed to recover lost territory.
One resident estimated that thousands of people were on the move and seeking shelter in areas further from the frontlines.
The Observatory estimated that between 300 to 400 families, which is likely several thousand people, had fled areas seized by government forces since Saturday. The pro-Assad commander said civilians were fleeing to the town of Douma.
The Observatory says government shelling and air strikes have killed 659 people in eastern Ghouta since Feb. 18, while rebel shelling of Damascus has killed 27.
UN regional humanitarian coordinator Panos Moumtzis said violence has escalated in eastern Ghouta and mortars fired into Damascus had killed and injured scores of civilians.
“Instead of a much-needed reprieve, we continue to see more fighting, more death, and more disturbing reports of hunger and hospitals being bombed,” Moumtzis said in a statement.
The United Nations later issued a statement saying it had received approval for a 46-truck convoy to the Ghouta town of Douma on Monday, carrying health and nutrition supplies, and food for 27,500 people. A second trip was planned for Thursday.
Earlier, a UN official in Syria told Reuters a humanitarian convoy carrying life-saving supplies would not enter eastern Ghouta as had been planned on Sunday, citing a lack of permission.
“DISTURBING REPORTS“
Moumtzis also expressed concern about the situation in Afrin, a Kurdish region under Turkish assault since January, saying there were “disturbing reports” of civilian deaths and injuries and restrictions on civilian movement.
Turkey, backed by Syrian militias, has gained ground in recent days in Afrin. The Observatory said the advancing forces could soon besiege Afrin city, where 1 million people live.
The Observatory said Turkish forces had advanced to within 12 km (7 miles) of Afrin.
Turkey’s army said on Sunday it captured seven settlements including the town of Sheikh Hadid. Turkish forces have taken control of the roads from Rajo and Jandaris to Afrin, it also said in a statement.
Turkey has rejected Western calls for it to suspend the Afrin assault in line with the UN cease-fire, which does not apply to Daesh, Al-Qaeda and groups associated with it, or other groups deemed terrorists by the Security Council.
Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey and is deemed a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Turkey. The YPG has been an important ally for the United States in the fight against Daesh.
Syria's Assad says the humanitarian situation the West talks about is a 'ridiculous lie'
Syria's Assad says the humanitarian situation the West talks about is a 'ridiculous lie'
US military launches strikes in Syria against Daesh fighters after American deaths
- “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says
- President Trump earlier pledged “very serious retaliation” but stressed that Syria was fighting alongside US troops
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration launched military strikes Friday in Syria to “eliminate” Daesh group fighters and weapons sites in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two US troops and an American interpreter almost a week ago.
A US official described it as “a large-scale” strike that hit 70 targets in areas across central Syria that had Daesh (also known as Islamic State or IS) infrastructure and weapons. Another US official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, said more strikes should be expected.
The attack was conducted using F-15 Eagle jets, A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters, the officials said. F-16 fighter jets from Jordan and HIMARS rocket artillery also were used, one official said.
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media.
President Donald Trump had pledged “very serious retaliation” after the shooting in the Syrian desert, for which he blamed Daesh. The troops were among hundreds of US troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the terrorist group.
Trump in a social media post said the strikes were targeting Daesh “strongholds.” He reiterated his support for Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who he said was “fully in support” of the US effort to target the militant group.
Trump also offered an all-caps threat, warning the group against attacking US personnel again.
“All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned — YOU WILL BE HIT HARDER THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN HIT BEFORE IF YOU, IN ANY WAY, ATTACK OR THREATEN THE USA.,” the president added.
The attack was a major test for the warming ties between the United States and Syria since the ouster of autocratic leader Bashar Assad a year ago. Trump has stressed that Syria was fighting alongside US troops and said Al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack,” which came as the US military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces.
Syria’s foreign ministry in a statement on X following the launch of US strikes said that last week’s attack “underscores the urgent necessity of strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in all its forms” and that Syria is committed “to fighting Daesh and ensuring that it has no safe havens on Syrian territory and will continue to intensify military operations against it wherever it poses a threat.”
Daesh has not claimed responsibility for the attack on the US service members, but the group has claimed responsibility for two attacks on Syrian security forces since, one of which killed four Syrian soldiers in Idlib province. The group in its statements described Al-Sharaa’s government and army as “apostates.” While Al-Sharaa once led a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, he has had a long-running enmity with Daesh.
Syrian state television reported that the US strikes hit targets in rural areas of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces and in the Jabal Al-Amour area near Palmyra. It said they targeted “weapons storage sites and headquarters used by Daesh as launching points for its operations in the region.”
Trump this week met privately with the families of the slain Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the dignified transfer, a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring US service members killed in action.
The guardsmen killed in Syria last Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the US Army. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a US civilian working as an interpreter, was also killed.
The shooting nearly a week ago near the historic city of Palmyra also wounded three other US troops as well as members of Syria’s security forces, and the gunman was killed. The assailant had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard two months ago and recently was reassigned because of suspicions that he might be affiliated with Daesh, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour Al-Din Al-Baba has said.
The man stormed a meeting between US and Syrian security officials who were having lunch together and opened fire after clashing with Syrian guards.
When asked for further information, the Pentagon referred AP to Hegseth’s social media post.
