‘Unprecedented’ bombing of Douma as JAI hits Damascus

By Syria Direct staff

February 5, 2015

AMMAN: The regime ramped up its military campaign against Douma Thursday in what some residents are calling an unprecedented aerial and artillery assault on the East Ghouta city as Jaish al-Islam targeted Damascus with rockets.

“Since the revolution started, the city of Douma has not been subjected to this type of bombing,” a local citizen journalist who requested anonymity told Syria Direct Thursday.

Until publication Thursday afternoon, the regime has hit Douma with 35 air raids, surface-to-surface missiles and artillery shells, reported the Douma LCC. Targets included kindergartens and mosques, according to the LCC.

Regime bombs Douma after JAI rockets. Photo courtesy of Yaser Doumani.

“The situation is catastrophic in every sense of the word,” Ali Abu al-Hassan, spokesman for the Unified Medical Office in Douma, told Syria Direct Thursday.

“There is not a single place that hasn’t been bombed,” he said, adding that it was impossible to precisely count the dead because of the sheer number of victims.

The LCC put the number at 15 dead and 150 wounded.

Two cars belonging to the fire department and rescue teams in Douma were hit as they were evacuating the wounded, reported the Civil Defence Douma Facebook page.

The regime also targeted the only field hospital in the city, a citizen journalist told Syria Direct Thursday.

The regime’s escalation against Douma city comes days after Zahran Aloush, head of Douma’s most powerful rebel faction, Jaish al-Islam, declared all of Damascus a “military zone” and site for potential operations.

JAI acted out Aloush’s threat Thursday by pummeling Damascus with dozens of rockets fired from the East Ghouta suburbs, reported the pro-opposition news agency Orient Press.

“The missile strikes are a response to the terrifying massacres the regime warplanes are committing in blessed Ghouta,” said Zahran Aloush over Twitter  Thursday.

“The streets of Damascus are empty, some schools are closed, state facilities [e.g., ministries] are paralyzed—some are open and some are not,” a Damascus civilian who preferred anonymity told Syria Direct Thursday.

The missiles hit areas across the capital, including parts of the Old City, the Baath party headquarters, and the area around the SANA office, Syria’s official state news.

Thursday’s attacks on the capital resulted in at least three deaths and injuries to 30 others, reported SANA.

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