UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said he hoped the Security Council would agree to a resolution calling for a ceasefire in eastern Ghouta, but warned it would not be easy. Aid workers and residents say Syrian army helicopters have been dropping “barrel bombs” - oil drums packed with explosives and shrapnel - on marketplaces and medical centers. Residents and insurgents in eastern Ghouta say high-altitude jets of the kind involved in bombing on Thursday morning are Russian, as Moscow’s warplanes typically fly higher than those of the Syrian air force. SCORCHED EARTHThe opposition-held eastern Ghouta region, home to 400,000 people, has been under siege by government forces since 2013. “They want to break our will and turn Ghouta into another Aleppo but this is their dream,” said Yusef Dughmi, a resident in the devastated eastern Ghouta town of Arbin overnight.

Source: bd News24 February 22, 2018 09:45 UTC