Syria: Regime siege kills more babies in Eastern Ghouta
Over 520 babies died in Eastern Ghouta since 2014
EASTERN GHOUTA/ANKARA
Assad regime siege on Eastern Ghouta region of
The new toll takes to 527 the number of babies who died of malnutrition caused by the regime blockade in the region since 2014.
The attacks and blockade have left the area’s 400,000 residents struggling with malnutrition and all healthcare facilities non-operational.
According to data from local hospitals, only 15 babies breathed their last in Eastern Ghouta in 2014. The death toll of babies, however, jumped to 112 in 2015 and to 173 a year later.
Last month, Sehar Difda, a
According to activists, thousands of Syrian babies in Eastern Ghouta are at the risk of death as the Syrian regime tightened up its blockade in recent months, preventing residents from bringing in their daily needs through tunnels or intermediary merchants.
Eastern Ghouta falls within a network of de-escalation zones -- set up in Syria by Turkey,
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN officials.
Reporting by Levent Tok and Adham