MESOP NEWS SYRIA – NO PEACE OR CEASEFIRE AT ALL – Scores of Pro-Assad Airstrikes Across Country

WEST KURDISTAN ( SYRIA) – April 04 – 2017 – By Scott Lucas – eaworldview –  Scores — and possibly hundreds — of pro-Assad airstrikes were carried out across Syria on Monday, as pro-regime forces tried to reclaim territory in Hama Province and in and near Damascus. Some activists reported more than 200 airstrikes on northern Hama alone, including sustained bombing of the town of Halfaya, while 66 were recorded in Jobar in northeastern Damascus and nearby suburbs by Monday afternoon. There were also ongoing attacks on parts of opposition-held Idlib Province in northwest Syria.

Activists noted that Russia — nominally a guarantor of a December 30 ceasefire — must have been involved in the strikes, given the number of attacks and some of the munitions used.

In northern Hama, pro-Assad forces are trying to retake all of the territory lost in a rebel offensive lost two weeks ago. On Monday, they occupied the village of Maardas, leaving the town of Souran as the major position still held by the rebels after their attacks.

The regime is also trying to regain the initiative in Jobar, where fighting has been ongoing since 2012, following a rebel offensive that reached as far as Abbassiyeen Square before being pushed back. The pro-Assad forces would like to renew their efforts to assault remaining opposition-held suburbs in the East Ghouta area, such as Barzeh, Qaboun, and Tishreen, interrupted by the rebel moves in and near Jobar two weeks ago.

The Local Coordinations Committee recorded 38 deaths in and near Damascus, seven in Hama Province, and seven in Idlib Province on Monday.

At least 22 people were killed and scores injured after four raids on a crowded district in Douma, the main opposition center northeast of the capital. Many other bodies were still under the rubble, rescuers said.

At leave five people died in Saqba, east of Damascus, when the market square was bombed.

The Syrian army said it was hitting missile launchers and killing scores of “terrorists”. The military also wants to destroy tunnels in suburbs, such as Barzeh and Qaboun, used to move personnel and essential goods between Damascus and the East Ghouta towns.

“Today the regime shelled and bombed….They have not left a place they have not hit. They want to get the tunnels,” said Abu Omar, a commander in the rebel faction Failaq al-Rahman. www.mesop.de