UPDATE 2000 GMT: Pro-Assad airstrikes have killed 12 civilians, including children, in attacks on a camp for displaced people in Idlib Province in northwest Syria (see map), according to activists and local journalists.

Footage of a “double tap” strike on the camp, trying to hit rescuers:


UPDATE 1845 GMT: Islamic State fighters have killed 25 regime troops south of Damascus, according to local reports.

Another 45 troops are missing after a chain of events which began last week with the regime’s 48-hour ultimatum for ISIS members to leave the al-Qadam suburb for Idlib Province in northwest Syria.

The evacuation was completed on March 13, but clashes then erupted in the neighboring Yarmouk camp — still controlled by ISIS — and a pro-Assad Palestinian militia. The Syrian army intervened with airstrikes and shelling.

However, with regime forces committed to the East Ghouta offensive, ISIS attacked from Yarmouk and Hajar al-Aswad, seizing al-Qadam as they destroyed armored vehicles and inflicted casualties.


UPDATE 1800 GMT: Syrian State news agency SANA, citing a police source, says 35 people were killed and 26 injured by rocketing of residential neighborhoods of Damascus.

The police official said the 35 people were killed and nine injured when a shell hit Lashkoul on the outskirts the Jaramana district. He said a woman and five children were wounded at the al-Jalaa sports complex, while 11 people were injured in the al-Amara neighborhood.

State media and pro-Assad outlets are blaming rebels in East Ghouta for the attacks.

Meanwhile, Russian, Iranian, and Assad media are spreading the unsupported claim of Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu that three rebel attempts at staging chemical attacks in East Ghouta have been foiled in the past week.

Shoigu asserted, “There is a possibility that terrorists will use poisonous substances in order to accuse the Syrian troops of using chemical weapons in future.”

Russian officials have used the claims in an attempt to divert attention from the Assad regime’s use of chlorine amid the offensive on East Ghouta, and possibly to establish cover for another assault.


UPDATE 1330 GMT: One of the latest attacks by regime and Russian forces on East Ghouta:

Claims are circulating that 20 people were killed in Erbin late Monday when three missiles hit a school being used as an underground shelter.

Sources said a Russian bunker-busting bomb punched through three floors before exploding in the basement that had been converted into air shelter. The strike killed 16 children and 4 young women, with more than 50 injured.

An image from the school, supported by German NGOs, before last night’s attack:

ARBIN SCHOOL


As pro-Assad forces carry out another mass killing in Syria, in East Ghouta near Damascus, Russia has blocked a UN Security Council meeting on human rights.

“We do not see any justification for this meeting since human rights is not a subject on the agenda of the Security Council,” said Gennady Kuzmin, Russia’s Deputy Ambassaador.

France and six other members called for the meeting, which would have included a briefing from Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Kuzmin asked for a procedural vote and only eight delegations voted in favor of having the meeting, one short of the number required.

Hussein and the UN team investigating the Syrian situation have said that the forces of the Assad regime, backed by Russia, has carried out acts which are likely war crimes.

“Our council needs to have all necessary information to understand the crisis that it is examining, including those pertaining to human rights. And this is particularly the case in Syria,” said French Ambassador Francois Delattre.

The delegations favoring a meeting later held an informal session addressed by Hussein, who criticized the Security Council for inaction amid mass killings, detentions, and torture:

The Syrian conflict has been characterized by its absolute disregard for even the most minimal standards of principle and law….The Security Council has not lived up to the sacrifice of these heroes throughout Syria. It has not taken decisive action to defend human rights and prevent further loss of life.

Implicitly referring to Russia, Hussein criticized the use of the veto in the Council to shield “perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria and elsewhere” from justice: “This failure to protect the lives and rights of millions of people is corroding not only the work but also the legitimacy of the UN.”

Up to 22 people were slain in East Ghouta on Monday as pro-Assad forces continued to consolidate their seizure of more than half the territory in a seven-week offensive.

There has been a reduction in deaths in the past two days, with “only” about 35 people — including 11 children and eight women — killed. However, pro-Assad attacks continued on towns such as Douma, the center of East Ghouta, and Ein Tarma.

Extinguishing a fire set off by a bomb on Douma:

DOUMA FIRE 20-03-18

The pro-Assad assault, including intense Russian airstrikes, has killed more than 1,500 people since early February. Thousands have been wounded and many bodies are still under rubble.

Last week, the UN said about 12,000 civilians have fled to regime frontlines, while many others have moved deeper into East Ghouta, held by the opposition since 2012.