Three weeks of ferocious bombardment of Syria's Eastern Ghouta have crushed illusions of a lasting truce in the opposition enclave which Damascus appears determined to recapture at all costs, AFP reported Monday (December 4th).
A blistering air campaign has reduced a "de-escalation" deal in Eastern Ghouta to tatters, just as regime and opposition representatives struggle to progress at sputtering peace talks in Geneva.
At least 193 civilians, including 44 children, have been killed in three weeks of Syrian regime raids and artillery fire on the area, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Opposition groups based in the area also have ramped up rocket fire onto Damascus, killing 29 civilians and wounding more than 200 in the capital.
Eastern Ghouta, the last opposition stronghold near Syria's capital, was one of four "de-escalation zones" agreed in May by Russia, Iran and Turkey.
A reduction in violence has more or less held in the other three zones in Syria's north-west, centre and south.
