A Day in Syria: April 21st 2018
By Caroline Pearse & H. E.
- The regime targeted today the area of Al-Tadhamon in Damascus, with several air raids.
- The United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) expressed its deep concern yesterday concerning thousands of civilians living in the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk (south of Damascus) because of regime bombings in the neighbourhood.
- Several victims were reported today in the camp of Al-Yarmouk following the bombings of the Syrian regime.
- Regime forces based in Halfaya bombed two towns this morning: Al-Lathamnah and Kafr Zeita in the province of Hama.
- Both towns of al-Hobait and al-Sakhr, in the southern countryside of Idlib, were attacked today by the regime forces artillery and missiles. According to activists, the bombings destroyed several houses.
- The deportation of the population of eastern Qalamoun has started today. An agreement has been reached concerning the departure of the opposition civilians and fighters with their families towards the north of Syria.The situation of many deportees recently arrived in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo is appalling according to activists being part of the deportees.
- Pictures of the weapons stocks returned to the regime by Jaych Al-Islam in eastern Qalamoun have been published today. These stocks include Russian-made munitions which might have been taken from the regime’s stock.
- According to French media, a week after the Western strikes against chemical weapons production sites in Syria, « failures » prevented two out of the three French frigates from launching their missiles. The backup warship replaced them in firing mission.
- The UN OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) inspectors collected samples from Syria’s Douma city on Saturday, two weeks after the chemical massacre committed by the regime in the city on April 7th 2018. The massacre had led to close to 180 victims.
- The French magazine Marianne related that, according to the declassified report about the « Syrian clandestine chemical weapons programme », French services reported 44 allegations of use of chemical weapons in Syria since April 4th 2017.
- Two weeks after the chemical attack, the Russian Foreign Office announced in a communiqué that the OPCW inspectors were allowed to enter Douma on Saturday morning. Inspectors arrived in Damascus more than a week ago but they were prevented from entering the city of Douma because of permit « delays » and « unidentified » snipers shootings on the UN reconnaissance unit.
- According to Human Rights Watch : thirteen Lebanese towns have expelled at least 3,664 Syrian refugees because of their nationality or religion while 42,000 others are still facing the risk to be expelled.
- Today for the Syrian National Day of Lawyers a tribute has been paid to Imad Aldroubi who was murdered in the Syrian regime prison. He had been arrested at a military checkpoint in Homs om May 22nd 2013 and he died under torture.
