Sunday, February 8, 2015

Syria conflict: Dozens killed in heavy Damascus fighting

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31146238

On Thursday, air raids in Damascus, the capital of Syria, have killed 40 people.  Deaths have also occurred as a result of rebel attacks and the rebels have stated their intentions of retaliating the government attacks in the town of Douma as government forces have been regularly attacking the city.  Hundreds of civilians and fighters have been killed in these air attacks.  The recent attacks in Damascus were said to have been carried out by the group Jayash al-Islam (Army of Islam).  Most of the attacks were directed at Damascus University and Baramkey, a state-run news agency.  This incident is just another indication of how the civil war in Syria has escalated.  Over 220,000 people have been killed in the past 4 years as a result of the conflict and more than 9 million Syrians have been displaced.  In addition, there has been an emergence of jihadist-groups within Syria such as Jayash al-Islam.  The Syrian government has been targeting these rebel groups and in the process has killed innocent civilians.  As a result, many human rights organizations have addressed this issue against the Syrian government.

Marissa Holaway

1 comment:

Tim Mulhair said...

I have friends in Syria I speak with over Facebook, friends in Damascus. They posted this week about rebel/jihadist mortar bombardments hitting their neighborhoods and killing people.

Worries them (and me) that the Syrian government's forces have been losing ground again and allowing the rebels to get close enough to do this.