Smoke rose from the besieged enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus on Tuesday, February 27 [Bassam Khabieh/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Syrian government forces have clashed with rebels on the outskirts of Eastern Ghouta, despite a Russian-sponsored truce that is now in its second day, a war monitor reported.

Since Wednesday morning, during a second attempt at implementing a ceasefire in the besieged enclave, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have been locked in “fierce” fighting with rebels who have been in control of the area since 2013, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The confrontation is part of a ground offensive launched by the government on Sunday. It has been fighting on multiple fronts in an attempt to penetrate the enclave.

The daily, five-hour “humanitarian pause” is meant to evacuate the injured out of the Damascus suburb and allow humanitarian convoys to deliver food and medicine to some 400,000 people trapped inside.

The first attempt to implement the truce on Tuesday was unsuccessful, as aerial bombardment and artillery fire killed at least four people and injured dozens more.

Residents of the enclave said government warplanes launched several attacks in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and stressed that the most intense attacks have been centres in three towns – including Douma, Misraba and Harasta – near the front lines.

“There have been no evacuations whatsoever – not medical, not humanitarian, nothing.”

“The regime has launched a psychological game – that’s all,” a resident said. “Bombardment has been ongoing since last night”.

Residents also say they cannot trust the same entity that has been assisting the government with bombarding them, and demanded a third, trusted party to implement the truce.

Russia blaming rebels
But Russia held rebels in the enclave responsible for not implementing the truce and blocking aid from being delivered to devastated civilians.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday “entrenched militants” needed to “act” now that Russia implemented “safe corridors”.

Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, he noted Moscow would continue to support Syrian forces in defeating the “terrorist threat”.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said the rebels in Eastern Ghouta denied the claims made by Lavrov.

“They [rebels] are denying this, saying they are not bombing the corridors and that people do not want to leave because they don’t have any security guarantees – there are no international monitors,” Khodr said.

“People are going to cross into government territory – what guarantee is there that they won’t be arrested, detained, or forced into conscription?” she added.

“What people want is a lasting ceasefire.”

Eastern Ghouta has been under continuous aerial bombardment since February 18, when Russian-backed Syrian warplanes stepped up their campaign against opposition fighters in the area.

More than 550 civilians have been killed, according to SOHR, making the latest offensive the most intense in Syria’s seven-year war.

The truce was supposed to establish ‘safe corridors’ to facilitate the civilian evacuation process [File: Bassam Khabieh/Reuters]

by Farah Najjar, Al Jazeera

At least two civilians have been killed less than two hours into a truce in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta, activists said, as Syrian government forces launched fresh attacks in the rebel-held Damascus suburb.

Syrian warplanes launched several air strikes in Douma and Harasta on Tuesday, Mahmoud Adam, a spokesman for Syria’s Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, told Al Jazeera.

In Douma, one of Eastern Ghouta’s main towns, two people, including a woman, lost their lives and several others have been wounded, Adam said.

Alaa al-Ahmed, a local activist, told Al Jazeera that the attacks started at 9:30am (7:30 GMT) on Tuesday, 30 minutes after a Russia-backed ceasefire began.

The truce was meant to allow civilians to evacuate from the rebel-held enclave, which has been under continuous aerial bombardment since February 18.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had ordered the ceasefire from 9am to 2pm (7:00 to 12:00 GMT) on Tuesday, as air strikes and ground operations killed more than 550 civilians in the last eight days, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

According to al-Ahmed, Russia did not provide a guarantee or a “trusted third party” to help evacuate the injured out of the area.

“How could people trust Russia – the same people bombing us – with assisting in the safe evacuation of the injured?” he said. “There is huge contradiction.”

The bombardment of the Damascus suburb, home to some 400,000 people, has been one of the most intense in Syria’s seven-year-old war.

“What happened this morning is a clear violation of the truce – which is merely propaganda,” al-Ahmed said.

The suburb’s humanitarian situation has been deteriorating, causing widespread international condemnation, with UN Secretary-General describing the enclave as “hell on earth”.

On Monday, a suspected chemical attack killed one child, according to Syria’s Civil Defence.

The reported chlorine gas attack injured at least 18 others when it hit Eastern Ghouta’s Al-Shifaniyah town close to the front lines, where rebels are fighting Syrian ground forces who have been trying to penetrate into the besieged enclave since Sunday.

Nour Othman, a local journalist based in Douma, told Al Jazeera warplanes also targeted the al-Marj area on Tuesday morning, a town near the outskirts of Douma.

“Tens of people have been injured,” he said.

And in the town of Misraba, at least seven people have been wounded as a result of surface-to-surface missiles, Othman added.

“The medical facilities are in a state of chaos – either because of the shelling or due to the high number of admitted injuries,” he explained.

No ‘safe corridors’
The truce was supposed to establish “safe corridors” to facilitate the evacuation process, but activists say there has been no attempt at doing so.

“To this moment, not a single person inside Eastern Ghouta has been evacuated,” Adam said, describing the truce as “dishonest”.

“Shelling is ongoing and there have been barrel bombs used in the outskirts of Douma,” he added.

Syrian state news agency, SANA, said rebels had fired several rockets in the path a corridor that was supposed to allow for the evacuation of civilians.

Syria’s Civil Defence team have started transferring people to medical facilities.

Similarly, Firas al-Abdullah, an activist in Eastern Ghouta, confirmed that at least three towns were hit on Tuesday after the ceasefire was set to take effect.

“No one left, no one entered – there has been nothing of this sort,” he said of the proposed evacuation plan.

Locals have also noted that several government warplanes are flying over villages on the outskirts of Douma.

On Saturday, an earlier attempt to implement a 30-day ceasefire in Syria failed, when a UN Security Council resolution was not upheld.

Eastern Ghouta has been under rebel control since 2013, after which President Bashar al-Assad’s government imposed a siege on the area in an attempt to drive out opposition fighters.

The blockade has caused a food and medicine shortage, has caused inflation rates to soar and aid convoys have not been able to deliver much of the desperately needed supplies.

Guterres’ remarks come as doctors in the enclave accuse the government of launching a chlorine gas attack [Mohammed Badra/EPA]

by Al Jazeera

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate implementation of a Security Council resolution for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria.

Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday, Guterres described the situation in Eastern Ghouta as “hell on earth”, as Syrian government forces continue an aerial bombardment campaign in the rebel-held enclave.

“Eastern Ghouta cannot wait, it is high time to stop this hell on earth,” Guterres told the council during the opening of its annual session.

WATCH: Besieged civilians in Eastern Ghouta await UN aid (02:24)
“I remind all parties of their absolute obligation and international humanitarian and human rights law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure at all times,” he said.

“Similarly, efforts to combat “terrorism” do not supersede these obligations,” he added.

The remarks come as doctors in the enclave accuse the government of launching a chlorine gas attack in the town of Al-Shifaniyah in Eastern Ghouta.

Syria’s Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, said on Sunday that at least one child died as a result of suffocation.

According to the Syrian opposition’s health officials, victims were showing symptoms “consistent with exposure to toxic chlorine gas”.

On Sunday, President Bashar al-Assad’s forces launched a ground offensive against opposition groups from multiple fronts, in an attempt to penetrate into the besieged enclave, which has been under rebel control since 2013.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said the government has not been able to take “any inch of territory in Ghouta” since the ground offensive began.

At least 16 people have been killed since Monday morning in Eastern Ghouta’s Douma, local activist Alaa al-Ahmed told Al Jazeera from the enclave.

A day earlier, at least 27 people in the Damascus suburb lost their lives as a result of shelling by Russian-backed Syrian warplanes.

Last week, deadly air strikes and artillery fire launched by Syrian forces and their allies exacerbated a dire humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave, home to some 400,000 people.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) had said more than 500 civilians were killed since the aerial bombardment campaign began on February 18.

A young girl receives treatment at a makeshift hospital following regime bombardments in Eastern Ghouta region [Amer Almohibany/AFP]

by Linah Alsaafin & Zouhir Al Shimale, Al Jazeera

More than 400 people have been killed in Eastern Ghouta, a monitoring group said, as the Syrian government forces backed by Russian warplanes continued their aerial bombardment of the rebel-held area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that at least 403 people were killed in the “hysterical attack” that began on Sunday, including 150 children. Almost 2,120 others were wounded.

UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, stressed the urgent need for a ceasefire in comments made ahead of Thursday’s UN Security Council meeting.

“The humanitarian situation in Eastern Ghouta is appalling and, therefore, we need a ceasefire that stops both the horrific heavy bombardment of Eastern Ghouta and the indiscriminate mortar shelling on Damascus,” he said.

He added the ceasefire needs to be followed by immediate unhindered humanitarian access and a facilitated evacuation of wounded people out of Eastern Ghouta, and warned against this being a repeat of Aleppo.

Living under bombardment
Residents of Eastern Ghouta, majority of whom are internally displaced, say there is nothing they can do and nowhere to hide.

Rafat al-Abram lives in Douma and is a car mechanic. The air attacks over the last few days have disrupted his job as the street he works on was destroyed by two raids.

“I managed to get some of my tools and equipment out, and fix cars whenever I can,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Sometimes I also fix the ambulances of the civil defence, which break down often because of their constant usage.”

His wife and two teenage daughters, Khadija, 17, and Ola, 15, remain at home. They start their day by sitting together before Abram visits his neighbours to get the latest grim news.

“Sometimes a bombing takes place near where I am working, which means I have to stop and hurry to help the civil defence pull victims from the rubble,” he said.

After Abram returns back home, he said he is haunted by the unbearable scenes he witnessed during the day.

“Seeing a father or mother wailing and crying over their dead children, or a father carrying his son who has one leg amputated, or another screaming at God and then at people to help save his family who are all lying under the rubble of a building … I try to comfort them even though I want to sit and cry with them from the horror of what is happening all around us,” he said.

‘Survive or die together’
The rebel-controlled Eastern Ghouta, a mostly rural area on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, has been under government siege since 2013. About 400,000 Syrians live there. The siege has resulted in a huge inflation of basic foodstuffs with a bag of bread costing the equivalent of $5.

Malnutrition rates have reached unprecedented levels, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, with 11.9 percent of children under the age of five acutely malnourished.

Only one aid convoy was permitted inside the area in February, to the town of Nashabieh, but none were allowed in January and December.

Nisma al-Hatri told Al Jazeera her husband and 10-year-old daughter Sara wake up to the sound of warplanes.

“Every day goes like this: bombings, then I clean the house from the effect of the nearby shelling, then we hide in one room, attempting to survive or die together,” Hatri said.

“My daughter Sara and I wake up with our arms around each other from the night before,” Hatmi continued. “We all sleep on one mattress. She hugs me and asks me why she can’t go out to play, or to school or to see her friends. I cannot answer her.”

The 32-year-old used to be a teacher but schools were shut down a month earlier because the situation grew too dangerous to go outside. Nevertheless, Hatmi still gives lessons to Sara and other neighbourhood children on an almost daily basis.

Her husband goes out every morning for several hours and returns with barley, which Hatmi cooks with rice for their breakfast and dinner. Some days her husband returns empty-handed.

‘War against civilians’
Mahmood Adam, a member of the Syrian Civil Defence, described to Al Jazeera the reality of Eastern Ghouta as “disastrous”.

“We are talking about a systematic targeting of civilians in their homes, schools, medical centres, marketplaces, and civil defence sites,” he said. “This is an extermination of the society in this area.”

“There are families who have been hiding in basements and underground shelters who haven’t seen the sun in days for fear of the brutality of the regime and the Russian warplanes,” he continued.

“We don’t know whether we will be alive to tell the world what is happening in the next hour or day. The rocket launchers are relentless, and the warplanes have not left the skies of Eastern Ghouta since Sunday.

“Everyone here knows this is a slaughter and a crime against humanity,” he added. “This is a war against civilians.”

Targeting medical centres
Speaking from the Turkish border city Gaziantep, Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid said doctors in Eastern Ghouta are saying the circumstances are “beyond words”.

“What they see is body after body arriving in makeshift clinics,” Bin Javaid said. “[They are] trying to give medical aid to the people who are in their hundreds being wounded in a relentless barrage of rockets, shells, and air strikes.

“They are running out of medical assistance and places to put these people because at least 22 facilities, according the Syrian American Medical Society, have been targeted since Sunday,” he said.

Ahmed al-Masri, spokesman for the Union of Free Syrian Doctors, told Al Jazeera government forces are targeting “every aspect of civilian life”.

“The regime’s forces are using the most ferocious means of bombardment,” he said. “As a result, many of the hospitals and medical facilities in Eastern Ghouta were directly targeted and destroyed.

“Three of our medical centres were shelled and destroyed and one of our crews was killed and three others wounded.”

No consensus on ceasefire
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council failed to reach an agreement on a resolution put forward by Sweden and Kuwait that called for a 30-day cessation of hostilities to allow the delivery of aid and evacuation of civilians from besieged Eastern Ghouta.

Russian UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said there was “no agreement” and presented amendments to the draft resolution “for it to be realistic”. He also accused the Syrian civil defence, also known as the White Helmets, of being “closely affiliated with terrorist groups”.

The Syrian UN Ambassador Basher al-Jaafari accused the United Nations and mainstream media of backing “terrorists recruited by the US from all over the world” to fight in Syria.

Al Jazeera’s diplomatic correspondent James Bays said Jaafari’s comments were typical of a man who has “stoutly defended his government and whatever it does”.

“He is representing a government that is breaching international law – effectively many would say carrying out war crimes,” Bays said, speaking from the UN headquarters in New York.

“He’s very much supported diplomatically by Russia. They helped the Syrian government turn the tide of the war in the last two years and they are now helping do whatever it takes to win the war.”

A person inspects damaged building in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria February 20, 2018. (Reuters)

by TRT World

The bombardment of Syria’s opposition-held Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus by pro-regime forces has killed 250 people in the 48 hours since Sunday night, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.

The Britain-based war monitor said this was the highest 48-hour death toll since a 2013 chemical attack on the besieged enclave, which killed hundreds.

The Observatory said 106 people had been killed by bombardment on Tuesday.

Strikes put a key hospital out of service on Tuesday, further limiting the little medical aid that besieged civilians could access.

“The Arbin hospital was hit twice today and is now out of service,” said Moussa Naffa, country director in Jordan for the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), which supported the clinic.

The Observatory blamed Russian warplanes, saying Moscow carried out its first strikes in three months on Eastern Ghouta.

The region is ostensibly included in a “de-escalation” deal meant to tamp down violence, but President Bashar al Assad is apparently preparing troops for an imminent ground assault to retake it.

Six hospitals hit

Eastern Ghouta is home to more than 400,000 people living under crippling regime siege, with little access to food or medical resources.

The United Nations said six hospitals had been hit in the region in the past 48 hours, in addition to the one in Arbin.

At least three were out of service and two were only partially functioning, said the UN’s regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Panos Moumtzis.

“It’s beyond imagination what is happening in East Ghouta today,” he said.

“The untold suffering is intolerable and residents have no idea whether they will live or die. This nightmare in East Ghouta must end and must end now.

The US State Department earlier this week said it seeks a 42 percent cut in funding for the UN Force in Lebanon [Karamallah Daher/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

US President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking to decrease its financial contributions to the Middle East in 2019, most notably to UN missions in Lebanon, the occupied Golan Heights, and Western Sahara.

The plan, revealed on Monday, is unlikely to make it past sceptical politicians in Congress, however.

Douglas Pitkin, the director of the state department’s Bureau of Budget and Planning, told reporters on Monday that “because [the department is] looking for greater cost containment at the UN more generally, [it does] have a lower funding level than the full peacekeeping estimate”.

Pitkin added that these figures are subject to change.

Trump’s plan includes slashing US contributions to the United Nations mission in Lebanon, as well as international peacekeeping missions worldwide.

The Department of State said earlier this week that it seeks a 42 percent cut for the UN Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), leaving the mission with $84.2m. The UNIFIL was established in 1978, and has been supporting the Lebanese army in maintaining calm in Lebanon’s south, where the country shares a border with Israel.

Cuts made to the UNIFIL may hinder its ability to perform its mandate of maintaining “security and stability in the south along the border with Israel” due to the fighting in neighbouring Syria.

The administration also revealed proposed cuts to missions in at least 10 other countries and regions.

This includes a 55 percent cut to the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights. The administration proposes the force receive $11.1m as opposed to the $24.6m it received in 2017.

In Western Sahara, the Trump administration wants to cut Department of State budget for the UN mission from $18.4m to $8.4m.

Trump had previously called for cuts to UN peacekeeping, including in his budget proposal for last year.

Under pressure from the US, the UN General Assembly voted last year to cut $600m from the body’s $8bn peacekeeping budget.

At the time, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said, “We’re only getting started.”

According to the Better World Campaign, an organisation working to improve the US-UN partnership, the Trump administration “is proposing unwise and disproportionate cuts to US foreign affairs spending, which would undermine American leadership globally, including at the United Nations and its agencies”.

“The foreign affairs UN-related budget numbers are almost an exact replica of last year’s request, which was widely and wisely dismissed as harmful to US interests abroad,” the organisation said in a statement.

“In fact, over the past year, we have seen military voices, business leaders and leaders in Congress all stress the importance of robust foreign affairs funding and continued support for the UN.”

The suggested cuts are part of a wider proposal that would slash the state department and US Agency for International Development budget by about 25 percent.

The plan is unlikely to make it past Congress, where cuts to diplomatic efforts and other aid programmes face strong opposition.

Trump’s budget plan also increases military spending, while calling for cuts to domestic social programmes.

Prior to revealing his administration’s plan, Trump said he wanted to spend more money at home.

“This will be a big week for infrastructure,” Trump said in a Tweet. “After so stupidly spending $7 trillion in the Middle East, it is now time to start investing in OUR Country!” he added, using a figure on US war expenditure in the region that is often disputed.

But the administration is requesting Congress approve $686bn Pentagon budget, one of the largest in US history. This includes an $800bn increase in military spending.

According to the Pentagon, the increase is aimed at countering increasing threats from China and Russia.

Palestinian leaders condemned reports of an Israeli plan to annex settlements in the West Bank [File: Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The US has dismissed reported discussions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Washington officials over plans to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“Reports that the United States discussed with Israel an annexation plan for the West Bank are false,” said White House spokesman Josh Raffel, late on Monday. “The United States and Israel have never discussed such a proposal.”

Raffel added the “focus remains squarely” on US President Donald Trump’s “Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative”.

The Israeli prime minister was quoted as telling a meeting of Likud legislators: “On the subject of applying sovereignty, I can say that I have been talking to the Americans about it for some time.”

Netanyahu was referring to applying Israeli law to the settlements, which are currently under the jurisdiction of Israel’s military.

Netanyahu’s office later sought to clarify what was discussed, saying in a statement the prime minister “updated the Americans on the initiatives being raised in the Knesset”.

On Sunday, Netanyahu blocked a bill to annex settlements that was proposed by right-wing Likud lawmakers.

“The Americans expressed their unequivocal position that they are committed to advancing President Trump’s peace plan,” Netanyahu’s office said.

Palestinian reaction
Responding to Netanyahu’s reported comments, a senior Palestinian official said the statements confirmed “Israel’s commitment to apartheid”.

Saeb Erekat of the Palestine Liberation Organisation said on Monday any unilateral moves to annex Palestinian land would violate their right to self-determination and independence, while confirming “US complicity with Israeli colonial plans”.

“This is a confirmation that final status issues are being unilaterally decided upon by Israel in coordination with the US administration,” Erekat said in a statement.

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem in 1967. Today, between 600,000 and 750,000 Israeli settlers live in more than 200 Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The settlements are illegal under international law and violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states an occupying power cannot transfer its population into the territory it occupies.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said any unilateral decision to annex the settlements “would only result in more tension and instability”, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Israeli legislation to annex the settlements “would destroy every international effort that aims to salvage the peace process”, Abu Rudeineh said.

Mohamed Nasheed has urged India to send an envoy to end Maldives crisis [Al Jazeera]

by Al Jazeera

An opposition leader in the Maldives has called on India to intervene after President Abdulla Yameen declared a 15-day state of emergency amid a deepening political crisis in the island nation.

Mohamed Nasheed, the country’s exiled former president, urged neighbouring India on Tuesday to send “an envoy, backed by its military” to free two Supreme Court judges and a former president who were arrested in the capital Male after the emergency declaration.

He also urged the United States to impose targeted sanctions on Yameen and his associates.

The Maldives, an Indian Ocean archipelago, was plunged into turmoil on February 1 when its Supreme Court issued a shock ruling that overturned terrorism convictions against nine of Yameen’s opponents, including Nasheed, and ordered those in jail be freed.

Yameen defied the ruling and ignored calls from the United Nations, European Union, and foreign governments, including India and the US, to comply with it.

In a televised address on Tuesday, the president said he declared a state of emergency to investigate a “coup” against him.

‘Judicial overreach’
Accusing Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Judge Ali Hameed of corruption and judicial overreach, Yameen said the bench had deliberated on removing him and his attorney general, and discussed reinstating two police chiefs he had sacked over the weekend.

“I had to declare a state of emergency because I had no way to hold a judge of the Supreme Court accountable,” he said. “I had to suspend [their immunity] to find out how thick this plot, this coup was.”

The emergency decree gave security forces sweeping powers to make arrests and curtailed the authority of the judiciary.

Shortly after the emergency was announced on Monday, security forces stormed the Supreme Court building and arrested Saeed and Hameed. The remaining three judges on the top court bench were not detained.

Yameen’s estranged half-brother, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who has sided with the opposition, was also detained in the early hours of Tuesday.

Police also took Mohamed Nazim, a former defence minister who was under house imprisonment, into custody on Tuesday. Nazim was sentenced to 11-years in jail on weapons smuggling charges in 2015, and was among the nine whose release the top court had ordered last week.

Meanwhile, the parliament, where the opposition have a majority, remained suspended.

‘Martial law’

WATCH: Maldives president declares emergency, arrests judges (2:20)
In his appeal on Tuesday, Nasheed, the former president, accused Yameen of declaring “martial law” in the Maldives.

“We must remove him from power,” he said.

“We would also like the US government to ensure that US financial institutions stop all US$ financial transactions of the regime leaders in the Maldives,” he added.

Responding to the state of emergency, the US urged restraint on Monday.

“The Maldivian government and military must respect the rule of law, freedom of expression, and democratic institutions. The world is watching,” the US National Security Council said in a Twitter post.

Boris Johnson, the UK foreign secretary, said he was gravely concerned and called on Yameen “to peacefully end the state of emergency”.

China, India, Australia and the US have issued travel advisories for the Maldives.