Regime attacks opposition-held Douma again following raids on Sunday that killed more than 100 people and were condemned by the UN
Syrian jets have again bombed the opposition-held Damascus suburb of Douma hours after the United Nations condemned air strikes carried out on Sunday that killed more than 100 people.
Warplanes attacked the district for the second day running on Monday amid claims from survivors that the global focus on Islamic State meant other atrocities were increasingly being ignored.
Stephen O’Brien, the UN’s most senior humanitarian official, said he was horrified by the total disrespect for civilian life in the conflict, which has left at least 250,000 people dead and up to four times that number injured.
Speaking briefly at the end of a three-day visit to Damascus, the Syrian capital, O’Brien reiterated that “attacks on civilians are unlawful, unacceptable and must stop”. He said: “I am particularly appalled by reports of air strikes causing scores of civilian deaths and hundreds injured.”
The United States also condemned the strikes and insisted President Bashar al-Assad must go.
“Yesterday’s air strikes, following its other recent market bombings and attacks on medical facilities, demonstrate the regime’s disregard for human life,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
“As we have said, Assad has no legitimacy to lead the Syrian people,” he added.
Kirby said Washington and its allies want a “political transition away from Assad that brings an end to such attacks and leads to a future that fulfils Syrians’ aspirations for freedom and dignity.”
The attack on a marketplace near the centre of Douma at about 2pm on Sunday was one of the deadliest air strikes by the regime in the four-year civil war.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/17/syria-douma-air-strikes-further-bombing-raids-damascus