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Even After ISIS, Syrians Are Still Killed in Scores Daily by Regime, Russian, and US Coalition Air Strikes and Bombardment of Cities

December 25, 2017 

Editor's Note:

The following news stories are just examples of the daily horrors of war in Syria. Readers can find more detailed daily news stories at the sources below as well as many other sources in the internet. 

 

Syrian teams rescue a man from under rubble after regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on Idlib countryside, December 25, 2017	Syrians fleeing their neighborhood in the eastern Ghouta, as it was bombarded by regime forces, December 25, 2017

 

The following are news stories from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) website (http://www.syriahr.com/en/):

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Airstrikes target areas in the countryside of Aleppo and cause injuries and shelling targets the Eastern Ghouta

SOHR, 25/12/2017

Aleppo Province, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: warplanes carried out raids on areas in the southern countryside of Aleppo; targeting places in al-Samiriyeh village and other villages in the area, which injured several people, while the factions targeted by serval shells location of the regime forces in al-Zahra neighbourhood and Alassad Suburb, and other locations in the western suburbs of Aleppo and its northern countryside, and information about casualties.

Rif Dimashq Province, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: a shell launched by the regime forces on Sunday evening landed on an area in Harasta city in the Eastern Ghouta, but no information about casualties. 

With more civilians killed and injured the death toll rises to 12 and more than 40 others were injured with different severity due to escalation of shelling on the countryside of Idlib and Hama

SOHR, 25/12/2017

Warplanes and helicopters targeted again areas in the eastern, southern and southeastern countryside of Idlib, where the helicopters dropped barrel bombs on areas in Jajinaz town in the countryside of Ma’ert Al-Noaman in the southern part of the countryside of Idlib, and Ajaz village in Sinjar district which includes refugee camps, along with airstrikes on Al-Mushayrifa and Abu Dali and aerial shelling on Al-Khawin village, while the regime forces shelled areas in Al-Tamanah town, killing a man from the town, rising to 12 including 4 children and 3 women, the number of martyrs killed by the shelling of the regime, warplanes and helicopters in Tel Al-Tawqan, Al-Sheikh Baraka, Zafra Camp, Jerjenaz, Al-Taman’ah, and Tel Emara. The number of injured people also rose to about 40 as a result of more people got injured in the renewed shelling on the countryside of Idlib, and the death toll is still expected to increase due to the presence of injured people in serious conditions as well as the people missing under the rubble. 

The SOHR published hours ago that it monitored on Monday the 25th of December the regime forces with their warplanes, helicopters, shells and missiles are continuing to escalate their shelling on the southern, the eastern and the south-eastern countryside of Idlib as well as the northern and the north-eastern countryside of Hama, backed by squadrons of Russian warplanes which take part in the bombardment, following two main events, the first was the arrival of military reinforcements of the regime forces and their allies of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities in Hama and Idlib countryside to take part in the combat operations, and assigning the Brigadier in the regime forces, Suhail Al-Hassan, known as the “Tiger” to lead the operation, and he is known for using aircraft intensively in the preliminary and combat operations, and he was the owner of the theory of explosive barrels which caused damage in large parts to the infrastructure, buildings, property and public facilities in Aleppo city and its countryside in addition to his operations in Hama, Al-Raqqah or even in Palmyra and the eastern countryside of Homs or in Deir Ezzor, and the second was the attack that was carried out by the rebel and Islamic factions on Zilaqiat area in the northern countryside of Hama, which lasted for only few hours as the regime forces managed to absorb the attack.

They regained the control of the areas they lost in the north of Hama, followed by hysterical intensive shelling that has continued since the 17th of December 2017. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has monitored since morning, Monday the 25th of December 2017, that the warplanes carried out more than 75 raids in conjunction with bombardment by about 100 explosive barrels carried out by the regime’s helicopters, and the bombardment targeted Khan Shaykhun, Saraqeb, Tal Mardikh, Sukayk, Al-Taman’aa, Al-Khwaiyn, Sheikh Baraka, Sinjar Township, Abu Dali, Al-Mshirfah, Abu Al-Duhur, Tell Touqan, Kafr Amim, Tel Ammar, and Tell Maraq in the southern, the eastern and the south-eastern countryside of Idlib, and Qubaybat, Um Haratayn, Atshan, Dajaj and Al-Lataminah in the northern and the north-eastern countryside of Hama, and the intensive bombardment caused the death of 6 citizens including 3 women and 2 children who were killed in the raids which targeted Tel Emara, , Al-Zafr Camp, Tell Touqan and Sheikh Baraka, and the bombardment resulted in the fall of a large number of wounded of fighters and citizens.

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Despite the declining of areas controlled by ISIS more civilians are getting killed and this rise the death toll to about 330 civilians within about 7 consecutive weeks of shelling

SOHR, 25/12/2017

Deir Ezzor province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights:: the fighting is still ongoing in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor despite the decline of areas controlled by ISIS east of the Euphrates River to at least 10 village after the SDF managed to control most of Abu Hardob village following violent clashes with ISIS. This was accompanied by an exchange of shelling between both parties, while the clashes are concentrated between both sides in the outskirts of Abu Hamam and Al-Kashkia towns. The SOHR documented the death of 5 citizens including 3 women including a woman and her daughter, as a result of shelling of warplanes believed to belong to the International Coalition on areas in the town of Garanish located east of the Euphrates, which has  witnessed displacement within the past 48 hours of tens of families toward areas in the countryside of the town and its desert,  rising to 327, including 85 children below the age of eighteen, and 61 women.

The number of civilians who were killed and documented by the SOHR since the 8th of November 2017, the date of beginning the first operation on Al-Bukamal city, until today the 25th of December 2017, the date of ending the presence of ISIS west of the Euphrates,  due to the shelling by the regime forces and the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, airstrikes by Russian and regime warplanes, airstrikes by the International Coalition’s warplanes. The martyrs are 202 citizen including 59 children and 37 women, who were killed in airstrikes by Russian and regime warplanes on villages and towns and cities of the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, and 26 citizens including 15 children and 5 women, who were killed in shelling.

The sources said its source was the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, and 60 citizens including 14 women and 8 children were killed in shelling by International Coalition’s warplanes, and 39 citizens including a 3 children and 5 women who were killed in shelling by the regime forces by artillery and missiles shells on areas in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, and the artillery, missile and aerial shelling targeted villages, cities and towns of Abu Hamam, al-Kashkiyyeh, Darnaj, Al-Bokamal, Marashdah, Sha’afah, Sbikhan, Al-Abbas, Al-Baghuz, Al-Siyyal, Hasrat, Al-Ghira, Hajin, and other areas on the banks of the Euphrates River, and the camps of Souh Al-Rifai, Al-Sukkariya, and gathering of civilians near water crossing between both banks, while the aerial and ground shelling left about 515 others injured with differen.​​

t severity, including tens of children and women, and some of the injured suffered imputations and permanent disabilities, while there is number of the missing, whose fate is still unknown, and some of the injured are still in serious conditions, which may increase the death toll.

The SOHR published on Monday the 25th of December that This fighting and shelling which started again in early December 2017, due to a new attack carried out by the forces of “Al-Jazeera Storm” Operation, resulted in a new displacement towards the SDF-held areas and other areas far from the violent shelling and killing, and the SOHR monitored that the displaced people set up camps where they can stay until the end of the fighting or the control of the organization over their areas and towns- from which they have fled- ends, in which the organization is still imposing its control over 11 towns and villages in the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, including Sha’afah, al-Kashkiyyeh, Abu Hamam and Abu Hardoub, Gharanij, Al-Bahra, Hajin, Abu Hasan, al-Shafa, al-Susah, Al-Baghuz, Al-Bobadran and their outskirts.

While this violent fighting in the east of the Euphrates, coincides with ongoing surprising attack carried out by the organization against the regime forces and their allies west of the Euphrates River in the area between Al-Bokamal and Al Mayadin, using explosive belts and booby trapped vehicles which resulted in the fall of a large number of human losses in the ranks of the both parties, in which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented since the 6th of December 2017, until today the 25th of December 2017, the death of 161 members at least of the regime forces and their allies as well as the organization, in which the SOHR documented the death of 89 members at least of the regime forces backed by armed militiamen loyal to them of Syrian, Arab and Asian nationalities including commanders, and most of whom are Syrian, while 89 members at least of the organization were killed in these clashes and attacks, some of whom detonated themselves by explosive belts, and the operations started from the east of the Euphrates, which witnessed during the period mentioned above, shelling by the regime forces on villages and towns controlled by the organization on the eastern bank of the river, which resulted in the fall on casualties and wounded.

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More casualties rise the death toll to 14 civilians at least in aerial and ground bombardment on the countryside of Idlib and Hama

SOHR, 25/12/2017

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of more people in the massacre that was carried out by helicopters in Jarjanaz town in the southern in the countryside of Idlib, where the helicopters dropped more than 23 barrels and explosive shells, raising to 6 including a man, his wife and a boy, the number of people killed in the massacre; which in turn rises to 14 including 4 children and 3 women, the number of martyrs killed by the shelling of the regime, warplanes and helicopters in Tel Al-Tawqan, Al-Sheikh Baraka, Zafra Camp, Jerjenaz, Al-Taman’ah, and Tel Emara. The number of injured people also rose to about 40 as a result of more people got injured in the renewed shelling on the countryside of Idlib, and the death toll is still expected to increase due to the presence of injured people in serious conditions as well as the people missing under the rubble, also a media activist of an agency belongs to Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham died affected by injuries he had in airstrikes that targeted their place in the northern countryside of Hama.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published hours ago that it has monitored since morning, Monday the 25th of December 2017, that the warplanes carried out more than 75 raids in conjunction with bombardment by about 100 explosive barrels carried out by the regime’s helicopters, and the bombardment targeted Khan Shaykhun, Saraqeb, Tal Mardikh, Sukayk, Al-Taman’aa, Al-Khwaiyn, Sheikh Baraka, Sinjar Township, Abu Dali, Al-Mshirfah, Abu Al-Duhur, Tell Touqan, Kafr Amim, Tel Ammar, and Tell Maraq in the southern, the eastern and the south-eastern countryside of Idlib, and Qubaybat, Um Haratayn, Atshan, Dajaj and Al-Lataminah in the northern and the north-eastern countryside of Hama, and the intensive bombardment caused the death of 6 citizens including 3 women and 2 children who were killed in the raids which targeted Tel Emara, , Al-Zafr Camp, Tell Touqan and Sheikh Baraka, and the bombardment resulted in the fall of a large number of wounded of fighters and citizens.

The SOHR published hours ago that it monitored on Monday the 25th of December the regime forces with their warplanes, helicopters, shells and missiles are continuing to escalate their shelling on the southern, the eastern and the south-eastern countryside of Idlib as well as the northern and the north-eastern countryside of Hama, backed by squadrons of Russian warplanes which take part in the bombardment, following two main events, the first was the arrival of military reinforcements of the regime forces and their allies of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities in Hama and Idlib countryside to take part in the combat operations, and assigning the Brigadier in the regime forces, Suhail Al-Hassan, known as the “Tiger” to lead the operation, and he is known for using aircraft intensively in the preliminary and combat operations, and he was the owner of the theory of explosive barrels which caused damage in large parts to the infrastructure, buildings, property and public facilities in Aleppo city and its countryside in addition to his operations in Hama, Al-Raqqah or even in Palmyra and the eastern countryside of Homs or in Deir Ezzor, and the second was the attack that was carried out by the rebel and Islamic factions on Zilaqiat area in the northern countryside of Hama, which lasted for only few hours as the regime forces managed to absorb the attack and they regained the control of the areas they lost in the north of Hama, followed by hysterical intensive shelling that has continued since the 17th of December 2017.

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights calls on the United Nation and International Community to evacuate more than 720 persons with critical conditions from the Eastern Ghouta which witnesses shelling that killed and injured about a thousand civilians

SOHR, 25/12/2017

Tragic humanitarian conditions in the Eastern Ghouta is deteriorating further with each passing day and medical centers are helpless before the severe conditions and lack of treatment

Rif Dimashq province – The Syrian Observatory for human Rights:: the regime forces continue shelling on areas controlled by Al-Rahman Corps,  Jaysh Al-Islam and Ahrar Al-Sham Islamic Movement in the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, where the SOHR monrioted shelling on places in Al-Shifuniyah areas which is controlled by Jaysh Al-Islam in the Eastern Ghouta, causing material damage, and no information about casulities, rising to at least 25, the number of artillery and missiles shells fired by the regime forces on cities and town of Douma, Ein Tarma, Arbin, Al-Shifuniya, and Harasta since the midnight of Sunday- Monday until now, where the ongoing shelling rises the number of strikes on the towns and cities of the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, where the regime forces targeted Hasrsta city and Madira town and the vicinity of Vehicle Management by more than 1120 missile and artillery shelling and missiles believed to be ground-to-ground since the 14th of November. The SOHR documented at least 239 airstrikes that targetd Harasta city and Madira town since Tuesday, and the SOHR also documented at least 194 airstrikes targeted the cities of Douma, Erbin, Zamlka, Hamuriyah, Misraba, Madira and other areas in the Eastern Ghouta in the same period, while it rose to at least 573, the number of shells and missiles believed to be ground-to-ground fired by the regime forces that targeted the cities and towns of Ein Tarma, Jisreen Douma, Hamuriya, Saqba, Misraba, Arbin, Kafrbatna, Beit Sawa, Beit Nayem, Haza, Al-Ashary farms, Zamlka, Al-Nashabiya, and Al-Marj area.

This heavy shelling caused the death toll to rise to 216 civilians including 51 children under the age of eighteen, 26 citizen women over the age of eighteen and 4 members of the Civil Defense, the number of people whose death has been documented since the 14th of November 2017, in which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of 129 citizens including 24 children and 15 citizen women by the raids carried out by the warplanes on the cities and towns of Douma, Harasta, Mdira, Hamouriyah, Arbin, Ein Tarma, and other areas in the Eastern Ghouta, while the SOHR documented the death of 87 citizens including 27 children and 11 citizen women due to shelling by artillery, mortar and tanks, as well as shelling by missiles believed to be ground-to-ground, on the cities and the towns of Kafr Batna, Zamlka, Ein Tarma, Douma, Arbin, Harasta, Jisrayn, Saqba, Beit Sawa, Al-Nashabiyah, Beit Nayem, and other areas in the Eastern Ghouta, and this shelling which has been continuing for a month resulted in the injury of hundreds of citizens, in which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented the injury of about 740 persons including tens of children and citizen women, some of whom have amputated limbs and permanent disabilities, while the others are still suffering serious wounds suffering from the lack of the medical staff and the shortage of medicine.

This ongoing shelling was came with the stubbornness of the regime and the ignorance of the international community and the effectives parties in the Syrian ground as they turned a blind eye and didn’t allow humanitarian aid to reach the Eastern Ghouta, which suffers a siege that causes a tragic situation increasing day after another. The international parties have used the media to show themselves as heroes who saved just few cases from the entire besieged Ghouta, through focusing the aid provided for a certain case or allowing the exit of some cases from the Eastern Ghouta to receive treatment, while hundreds of cases are still neglected and way too far from the media and the humanitarian and relief organization which are still turning a blind eye and are not fully placing pressure to lift the siege or allowing the aid to enter to the hungry Ghouta, which is being punished by the regime forces and their allies so as to use it as a pressure care to reach political gains.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights made a statistic about the details in the humanitarian and medical situation in the Eastern Ghouta, in which the SOHR counted, through its activists, and with the help of medical sources in the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, more than 720 medical cases including tens of children and citizen women, who need immediate evacuation, the evacuation which is ignored every time by the vehicles of the Red Crescent and the UN delegations accompany the humanitarian aid that enters the Eastern Ghouta, and leave without paying any attention as if they accomplished their mission perfectly, which provoked the patients and their families, who mocked at the aid transporters and supervisors saying that “they think they accomplished their mission and flood us with charities that are not enough for the inhabitants of one town of Al-Ghouta which suffers daily from starving”, and this talk of the patients and their family was confided by them through complaints to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and citizens continue their complaints saying “there are families have only one meal daily, which hardly satisfies their hunger amid the high prices caused by the warlords and sellers of goods who assigned imaginary prices in return for entering the food stuffs through the regime’s checkpoints widespread at the outskirts of the Eastern Ghouta, Do not they observe our heartache for our children and our families?!!, or they have not been struck yet by hunger and disease makes them weep upon their children?!!”

The medical sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the diseases are varied, in terms of their nature, level of progress, extent of distribution and the difficulty of being treated, as there are more than 500 patients have cancer, including more than 100 cases need immediate evacuation, due to the great drop of their conditions, also there are 59 cases, of who are believed to have cancer, are added to the 500 cases, in which the specialists of the center specialized in diagnosing and treating cancer in the Eastern Ghouta, failed to specify and diagnose their cases, due to the lack of necessary materials, and the stop of the laboratory for the same reasons, and there are more than 30 patients have the infecting tuberculosis, as well as the presence of about 25 cases of the kidney failure, and about 70 cases with varying diseases such as diabetes mellitus, immunodeficiency, thalassemia, and other diseases.

The 37 medical centers in the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, including 10 hospitals, which are distributed in its cities and towns, unable with their medical stuffs to provide treatment for these cases, leaving the patients moaning due to the daily pain of the diseases they have, while these centers and hospitals are working on the other diseases and the daily medical cases which the citizens suffer due to the lack of medicines or due to the diseases they infected with, as a result of the bad medical and health conditions in the besieged Ghouta, in which the reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that these centers cover about 80% of the health care and medical services of the patients of the Eastern Ghouta, although there is a cancer care center in Douma city, most of the cancer patients need to be evacuated including 100 persons at least who need immediate evacuation, due to the lack of medicines needed to treat them, and there is one dialysis point in Douma city, and it suffers the same conditions which the cancer care center suffers from.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the absence of full sections in the Eastern Ghouta as a result of the lack of the specialists, where there is only one doctor for each of the specialties of vascular surgery and neurosurgery, while there are no doctors specialized in internal and heart diseases, while there is one doctor at least for gynecological diseases, who came from the east of the capital Damascus after the regime forces took the control of the neighborhoods of the east of Damascus, and after the only doctor specialized in gynecological diseases was killed during the fighting between Al-Rahman Corps and Jaysh Al-Islam in April 2016, and this tragic reality comes with the shortage of many medicines including antibiotics, antipyretics, diuretics of diabetes, medicines for childhood infections, cancer drugs and tuberculosis drugs, in which these medicines disappeared almost completely, after the regime forces took the control of the eastern neighborhoods of the capital Damascus, specially Barzeh neighborhood, through which the stuffs enter the Eastern Ghouta, in which the medicines and the medical stuffs entered in return for paying large sums of money as bribes to the regime’s checkpoints in Barzeh neighborhood which part of it witnessed “reconciliation” with the regime, after that they were carried to Qaboun, then they were carried through tunnels dug between it and Arbin, thus, all medicines reached the Eastern Ghouta, but the control of the regime over the neighborhoods of the east of Damascus, stopped the entry of these medicines to the Eastern Ghouta completely.

The Eastern Ghouta includes only one blood bank in Douma city, but with the increased pace of the fighting and the bombardment on the Eastern Ghouta and with every intensive shelling, the performance of this bank decreases and becomes unable to cover the needs of the medical points in the eastern Ghouta, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights counted 8 laboratories, in a number of towns and cities in the eastern Ghouta, but they are not enough to serve all the cases, as there is a lack in some specializations in the Eastern Ghouta, due to the absence of the required equipment, or the absence of the specialized medical stuffs, such as “hormone analyzing, blood gases, immunological analyzes”, and in the Eastern Ghouta there is one “patient anatomy” laboratory in Douma city, but it is out of working due to the unavailability of main substances needed for the laboratory.

The support of the military factions stopped with the control of the regime forces over the east of the capital Damascus, where the assistance of the factions was to allow medical center officials to travel through the tunnels between Al-Ghouta and the east of the capital Damascus, to buy the medical stuff they need from Barzeh neighborhood, while the factions did not provide other support only they secured the ways which the officials of the medical laboratories, the medical points and the hospitals traveled through, and the stop of the entry of the medical stuffs to the Eastern Ghouta, led these health and medical centers to depend on the stockpile of the medical substances.

The Eastern Ghouta of Damascus includes areas with varying degrees of detriment, but Douma city is considered the most affected one in terms of the humanitarian, health and medical conditions, and the situation is worsens due to the intensity of shelling on it which damages the city, and due to increasing the population in the area, as a result of the flux of displaced people, coming from other areas in the Eastern Ghouta and from the areas which the regime forces controlled months ago in the Eastern Ghouta, and the areas that follow Douma city in the term of being affected by detriment, are the areas of the middle section of the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus and they are: Harasta , Arbin, Hamouriyah, Zamlka, Saqba, Kafr Batna, Jisrayn, Mdira, Ein Tarma, Beit Sawa, Hazza as well as other villages and towns in the Al-Marj area.

While a number of the medical and responsible sources in the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the optimal exit of medical cases, in order to be treated outside the Eastern Ghouta, is through and under the supervision of the Syrian Red Crescent, or through medical organization such as the Red Cross.

These catastrophic health conditions, as well as the deadly siege, came as a result of manipulation by traders, who the citizens of the Eastern Ghouta called the “crisis dealers”, who exploited the need of citizens and the paradoxes of the high and low value of the hard currency, to assign prices some of which is considered imaginary for the foodstuffs, including the main supplies, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored a list of the prices of the main supplies needed at easy home, in which the price of a package of bread reaches about SP 1900 ( $ 5 ) the price of sugar is SP 2400 ( $ 6 ), the price of rice is SP 2600, the price of Bulgur is SP 2400, the price of wheat SP 1600, the price of a kilogram of flour reaches SP 3000, the price of salt reaches the same price of the flour, the price of the vegetable oil reaches SP 3500, the olive oil reaches double of the price of the vegetable oil, all of this came with the absence of the nature gas, while the other fuels of petrol and diesel fuel are presented at high prices, in which the price of a liter of petrol reaches SP 8000 which equals $ 21, while the price of the diesel fuel is SP 5000, and as a result of the lack of heating substances, the sale of firewood for heating appeared, in which the price of a kilogram of the firewood is SP 400, and the sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that some traders are able to bring foodstuffs, from time to time, through the checkpoints of the regime, but at first they have to pay taxes and bribes to the checkpoint, rated by SP 3000 for each kilogram, while the financial and alimentary conditions of some citizens dropped greatly, which led them to sell their land to people who are outside the Eastern Ghouta in return for sending them money for their living, while others sell their homes, and others head to the kitchens of the factions operating in the Eastern Ghouta, to get meals, while the rest depend on the aid of the relief organizations operating in the Eastern Ghouta.

We in the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights strongly condemn this international silence towards the hunger and misery of the Eastern Ghouta, this disgusting silence they acted before towards Madaya, Zabadani, Al-Wa’er neighborhood, and other Syrian areas, which ended with a demographic change in return for the living and opening the ways of these neighborhoods after they were emptied from their inhabitants, this change that took place before the eyes of the world and with their blessing, , and we in the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also calls all the active international parties, to achieve a radical change in the issue of the siege imposed over the Eastern Ghouta and the rest of the besieged areas, by ending this siege completely, allowing the citizens to travel, entering foodstuffs, and not to involve the citizens and their fate, diseases and life, in the military conflict taking place among the military parties of the regime and its opponents, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights calls on the international bodies to secure an immediate transport for the patients and bring them out immediately in order to be treated in hospitals outside the Eastern Ghouta and to diagnose their health situation and monitor it, as the International Community faces a situation in the Eastern Ghouta that cannot be delayed anymore, because any time wasted in forming committees, teams, etc.., may casts another life of the people of the Eastern Ghouta, who were punished by the Al-Assad’s regime by contracting with deadly troi to be a continuation of the military machines, and alternative killer in the case of the absence of the later.

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The following are news stories from the US Department of Defense website (http://www.defense.gov/News) :

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Military Strikes Continue Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Dec. 22, 2017 —

U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria between Dec. 18 and yesterday, conducting 11 strikes consisting of 21 engagementsز

Officials reported details of the most recent strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Yesterday near Abu Kamal in Syria, coalition military forces conducted a strike engaging an ISIS tactical unit and destroying an ISIS vehicle and an ISIS staging area.

On Dec. 20 near Abu Kamal in Syria, coalition military forces conducted three strikes consisting of 13 engagements against an ISIS tactical unit, destroying two ISIS indirect-fire weapons, two explosive hazards, two maneuver elements and an ISIS headquarters command-and-control center.

On Dec. 19 near Abu Kamal in Syria, coalition military forces conducted three strikes consisting of three engagements against an ISIS tactical unit, damaging an ISIS supply route and a command-and-control center.

On Dec. 18 near Abu Kamal in Syria, coalition military forces conducted two strikes consisting of two engagements against an ISIS tactical unit, destroying a heavy weapon.

Strikes in Iraq

There were no reported strikes conducted in Iraq on Dec. 21, 2017.

On Dec. 19 near Qaim in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted a strike that destroyed an ISIS tunnel.

On Dec. 18 near Baaj in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted a strike consisting of an engagement against an ISIS tactical unit.

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Syrian Democratic Forces Continue to Drive Out ISIS, OIR Spokesman Says

By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2017 —

The Syrian Democratic Forces continue their momentum to drive the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria out of Syria in their advance in the Khabur River area of the Middle Euphrates River Valley, Army Col. Ryan S. Dillon, spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, told Pentagon reporters today.

Speaking to reporters via teleconference from Kuwait, Dillon noted that the SDF have “deliberately and meticulously” cleared about 1,700 square miles of former ISIS territory since the beginning of operations in September.

“Despite recent claims from Russia that Syria is free from ISIS, the SDF are still meeting resistance from ISIS fighters in the region,” he said. “ISIS is putting up a stiff defense in remaining territories in the [Middle Euphrates River Valley], likely as a delaying action to allow other elements to displace to Southwest and Northwest Syria to seek sanctuary or continue to fight.”

He noted Syrian regime commanders in Eastern Syria suggest ISIS fighters from the valley might have slipped through porous Syrian and Russian defenses to arrive in areas near Damascus.

“We’ve also seen a recent ISIS attempt to transit westward through the [Tanf] area, albeit unsuccessfully, because of our partners’ actions to interdict,” Dillon said, adding the SDF remains “steadfast,” making progress in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.

SDF, ISF Milestone

A milestone was met Dec. 11, when the SDF reached the border of Iraq and linked up with Iraqi forces who were completing their clearance of ISIS’ final pockets in Iraq, the colonel said. “Our two defeat-ISIS partners are working together to reestablish a secure international border,” he added.

Just as the coalition has been committed to the military defeat of ISIS, “we are equally committed to securing the gains on the battlefield and preventing the return of this group,” Dillon said. The broader efforts of the global coalition are also focused on the stabilization of areas cleared of ISIS, he added.

“The civilian-led efforts addressing vital needs, such as restoring essential services and fostering education and employment, stabilization and humanitarian efforts, go hand-in-hand with our military campaign and all these efforts lead to lasting security and help people return to their homes and get on with their lives,” the colonel said.

And the coalition continues to put pressure on ISIS senior leaders and associates across multiple networks to degrade, disrupt and dismantle remaining ISIS structures and remove the terrorists throughout Iraq and Syria, he said.

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