www.theregion.org From Eastern Ghouta to Afrin: civilians pay the price for war by The Region - 29/01/2018 15:30 From Eastern Ghouta to Afrin, civilians have had to pay the price for indiscriminate attacks. These attacks by Turkish, Russian and Syrian air forces, as well as by armed opposition groups have occured in the midst of peace processes that have, thus far, done little to ensure the safety of Syria's residents. Eastern Ghouta and Afrin are both examples of the militarization of the Syrian conflict, a conflict with no end in sight. Eastern Ghouta Since new years eve, at least 219 civilians have been killed by government airstrikes in the besieged rebel suburbs of Eastern Ghouta, Syria. The United Nations has demanded, pleaded and begged the Assad Government to allow for medical evacuations to take place. Usually to little avail. While the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid has condemned those armed opposition groups who "continue to fire rockets into residential areas in Damascus, causing terror among the population", neither the armed opposition nor the government has successfully been able to negotiate a ceasefire which would include the lifting of a crippling siege that could also pave the way for a moratorium on government and ally strikes that have been the predominant reason for civilian killings. A failed ceasefire over the weekend also demonstrated that both parties to the conflict did not have enough political will to end the conflict. Eastern Ghouta has been under a crippling siege designed to thwart the influence of the Faylaq al-Rahman and Jaysh al-Islam rebel groups who control the suburb. While it is supposed to fall under a so-called de-escalation zone brokered by rebels and the Turkish, Iranian and Russian governments, not much has prevented the Assad government and its allies to bomb residential areas in Eastern Ghouta. Both parties to the conflict have failed to distinguish "between lawful military targets and civilians and civilian objects" according to the UNHCR. As one of the last rebel strongholds near the Syrian capital Damascus, the Assad government has opened up few routes for Eastern Ghouta's residents to receive access to food, medicine and basic essentials. Malnutrition and preventable diseases are common in the rebel stronghold, and emergency evacuations by the Red Crescent are severely restricted. On Monday, Russia finally called on the Syrian government to allow a medical evacuation to take place, and while an informal cease-fire deal was negotiated over the weekend in Vienna, it crumbled almost immediately, with 8 more civilians reported to have been killed on Monday alone. Attacks on Afrin On January 19th, The Turkish Government began its attacks on the predominantly Kurdish territory of Afrin, Syria with claims that it was responding to plans by the United States to support and train a 30,000 border force made up of Kurdish fighters. Ankara, however, has warned of an invasion into Afrin for months, which was dubbed by the media as an "Operation Euphrates Sword". Its contemporary name is "Operation Olive Branch". The Foreign Affairs Commission of the Autonomous Democratic Administration of Northern Syria has released a report estimating that 86 civilians have been killed while 198 people have been wounded by the latest assault by the Turkish Government in Afrin, Syria. Among those that have been killed by Turkish backed FSA forces and Turkish airstrikes are civilians as young as Salama Al Hussain (6 years old), and as old as Kanjo Kanjo (60 years old). World heritage sites have also been destroyed by the recent Turkish assualts on Afrin, including the destruction of the Ain Dara Hittite temple complex and some of Afrin's oldest mosques. And whereas Turkey and the opposition have condemned the attacks on Eastern Ghouta, both have supported the rationale for Turkey to attack Afrin. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, the deputy head of the National Coalition of Syrian Opposition and Revolutionary Forces expressed his support for the Afrin operation. Abdurrahman Mustafa, based in Istanbul, told government-linked Anadolu Agency that: "We support Turkey's plans against this separatist organization. As we did during the Euphrates Shield, we are again ready for cooperation with Turkey". Like Assad, the Turkish state also claims that its operations against Afrin are to target "terrorists" and Ankara insists that the YPG (which protects Afrin) is ideologically and organizationally linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party' (PKK). The YPG, however, deny this claim arguing that they are only ideologically inspired by the PKK. In order to prevent what it calls a "terror corridor", The Turkish government has also failed to limit civilian casualties in its Afrin operation. "The deadliest reported incident since the Turkish incursion began took place on January 21st", wrote Air-wars, a watchdog that mainly monitors US and Russian airstrikes in Syria, " At least 10 civilians -- mostly children -- were credibly reported to be killed on a poultry farm in A'nabka by Turkish fire." The opposition on Afrin The official representatives of the Syrian opposition have expressed support for the recent attacks on Afrin but a minority of Syrian leftists opposed to Assad rule have also voiced solidarity with the residents of Afrin. The Alliance of Middle Eastern Socialists has condemned The Syrian National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces for not only supporting "the Turkish military intervention and continuing their previous chauvinist policies against the Kurds in Syria, but for also participating in this operation by calling on Syrian refugees in Turkey to join the Syrian armed opposition groups fighting in Afrin." Within the same statement, the alliance condemned "the Assad regime's attacks on Eastern Ghouta and Idlib, areas which are supposedly considered "de-escalation zones" according to the Astana negotiations led by Russia, Iran and Turkey." as well as "opposition groups in Al-Ghouta" who have also shelled various districts of Damascus. .