WESTERN PROPAGANDA – Death toll from east Damascus air strikes rises to 33, monitor says
The Unhived Mind
Death toll from east Damascus air strikes rises to 33, monitor says
By Reuters — April 1, 2016
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3518603/Death-toll-east-Damascus-air-strikes-rises-33-monitor-says.html
The death toll from air strikes in the Deir al-Asafir district southeast of Damascus has risen to 33, mostly women and children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
The strikes on Thursday, which the Observatory said were carried out by Syrian aircraft, came despite a month-long “cessation of hostilities” in Syria between government forces and their opponents, excluding Islamic State and al Qaeda’s Nusra Front.
The U.S. State Department said it was appalled by the reported air strikes. “We condemn in the strongest terms any such attacks directed at civilians,” spokesman John Kirby said.
Parts of the Eastern Ghouta region east of Damascus, where Deir al-Asafir is situated, have been outside President Bashar al-Assad’s control since almost the start of the uprising which erupted five years ago and descended into civil war.
The area is controlled by different factions, including rebel forces covered by the truce as well as Nusra Front.
In an update late on Thursday, the Observatory said 12 children, nine women, a teacher and an emergency response worker were among the dead in Deir al-Asafir.
The “White Helmet” volunteer rescue organisation said emergency worker Walid Ghourani was killed when one of its ambulances was hit.
It released video footage of an ambulance arriving at Deir al-Asafir and a white-helmeted rescue worker, carrying a stretcher over his shoulder, rushing through a rubble-strewn alleyway towards what appeared to be the site of an explosion.
It also published pictures it said showed the destruction of the White Helmet base in Deir al-Asafir, including a fuel depot. Fire hoses and gas canisters could be seen among the mounds of collapsed concrete.
The Observatory said Syrian government forces have been trying to surround Deir al-Asafir, which it said is still home to 2,700 families. (Reporting by Dominic Evans, editing by Larry King)
theunhivedmind
This is likely more disinformation masquerading as news, if only because it’s based on information from a familiar, if suspect source.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is a one man outfit run from a suburban house in Coventry, England. Syrian born Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the SOHR hasn’t been back to his homeland in nearly twenty years. Yet major news outlets like Reuters and the Daily Mail routinely flesh out reports on events in Syria with information provided by Abdulrahman. Even though that information is unconfirmed and often remains so.
These reports frequently feature claims of civilian casualties, which are invariably attributed to Russian or Syrian government forces.
For example, on December 14, 2015, the SOHR claimed that 10 children were among 45 civilians killed by “Syrian or Russian warplanes” in airstrikes east of Damascus. That report was unconfirmed and days later was still uncorroborated.
On January 11, 2016, the SOHR reported a Russian air strike on a school in Anjara, Aleppo province. According Rami Abdulrahman the air strike killed eight children and a teacher, although as with all SOHR reports those figures remained uncorroborated by any independent source.
Meaning that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has all the hallmarks of a disinformation outlet. Routinely casting the actions of Syrian government forces and their Russian allies in a negative light.
The latest report from the SOHR follows the same, well worn routine. With Syrian air strikes reportedly killing civilians including “12 children, nine women, a teacher and an emergency response worker”.
So, according to SOHR, Syrian government forces are not just killing children and civilians but also a “teacher and an emergency response worker”!!
As is so often the case with reports from the SOHR though none of this is independently verified or corroborated. Meaning it could be yet more disinformation presented as “news”.
Thing is: none of the news outlets carrying this report bother to corroborate or confirm the SOHR claims. Meaning that the many corporate news outlets that disseminate these reports are in effect colluding with what could be a channel for disinformation sponsored by Western intelligence.
-Truthseeker