DOUMA: Syrian government forces intensified fighting on Saturday inside Eastern Ghouta, as tens of thousands of civilians in the besieged rebel enclave east of Damascus awaited urgently needed aid.

On another front in Syria’s seven-year civil war, Turkish air strikes killed 36 pro-regime fighters in a Kurdish enclave near the Turkish border.

Syria’s war has killed more than 340,000 people and spiralled into a complex conflict involving world powers since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Russia-backed regime forces have since February 18 killed more than 640 civilians — including over 150 children — in bombardment of Eastern Ghouta, one of the armed opposition’s last strongholds in the country.

Following a deadly wave of air strikes and shelling, fighting on the ground has intensified in recent days, with loyalists retaking several areas inside the agricultural region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Regime forces have advanced steadily since Thursday, the Britain-based monitor said, recapturing two areas in the east and southeast of the enclave on Saturday alone.

“Regime forces and their allies have intensified their attacks on rebel positions in the past 48 hours,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Eastern Ghouta’s 400,000 residents have lived under regime siege since 2013, facing severe food and medicine shortages even before the latest offensive.

The fighting on the ground comes after Russia on Tuesday started a daily five-hour “humanitarian pause” in the enclave — a move that falls far short of a 30-day ceasefire demanded by the UN Security Council.

The aerial bombardment has lessened but continued to claim lives since, and trucks loaded with desperately needed aid remain unable to enter the enclave.

Thousands of civilians instead are surviving on meagre supplies, and medical staff struggle to treat casualties with inadequate medical supplies.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2018