Assault on Ghouta looms

Heavy Syrian bombardment killed 44 civilians in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta yesterday, as regime forces appeared to prepare for an imminent ground assault.

The escalation came as pro-government forces were expected to enter the northern Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin, to take a stand against a month-old Turkish assault there.

Held by rebels since 2012, Eastern Ghouta is the last opposition pocket around Damascus and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has dispatched reinforcements there in an apparent bid to retake it.

A barrage of air strikes, rocket fire, and artillery slammed into several towns across Eastern Ghouta yesterday, killing 44 civilians and wounding dozens more.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 20 were killed in air strikes on Hammuriyeh and nine others in bombardment on Saqba.

The rest were killed when other areas were pounded. Four children were among the dead.

"The regime is bombing Eastern Ghouta to pave the way for a ground offensive," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

Residents of Hammuriyeh could be seen rushing inside in a panic as soon as they heard the sound of airplanes.

Alaa al-Din, a 23-year-old Syrian in Hammuriyeh, said civilians were afraid of a potential government offensive.

"Ghouta's fate is unknown. We've got nothing but God's mercy and hiding out in our basements," he told AFP yesterday. "There's no alternative."

Meanwhile, Turkey's foreign minister yesterday warned against any intervention by Syrian pro-government forces alongside Kurdish militias in northern Syria, saying it would not prevent Ankara from continuing its month-old offensive.

Mevlut Cavusoglu was reacting to a report from Syrian state news agency SANA saying pro-government forces were expected in the Afrin region to counter the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

"If the regime is entering (Afrin) to oust the PKK, YPG, there is no problem. But if they are entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us and Turkish soldiers," Cavusoglu said during a visit to Jordan.

The foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey will meet in Kazakhstan in two weeks to prepare the ground for an Istanbul summit on Syria, the TASS news agency cited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying yesterday.

The three countries are working together to try to push the troubled Syrian peace process forward. President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan discussed Syria by phone yesterday.