The Unified Medical Bureau of Eastern Ghouta, an activist organization opposed to the regime of President Bashar Assad, claims that an artillery barrage from government forces struck a nursery in an opposition-controlled suburb of Damascus on Sunday, killing at least six children.
The UK Independent reports that both the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the locally-run Education Directorate for the suburb of Harista blamed government forces for the attack.
The strike, which the Associated Press describes a “rocket or mortar barrage,” occurred at around 10:00 AM local time, during the first recess period of the day. At least 25 children were reportedly wounded in addition to the six killed.
“An AFP photographer said they saw the body of one a girl lying on a bed at a makeshift hospital, her face bloodied and her clothes torn,” wrote the Independent. “At the nursery, smears of blood were left on the tiled floor, underneath a small red slide propped against a wall painted with children’s drawings.”
“Harrowing pictures from the scene show children covered in blood crying out in pain and others lying in hospital beds severely injured,” added the UK Express.
The Express spied another tragedy in the making in the long-suffering rebel-held city of Aleppo, from which video footage has emerged of “children filling helium balloons with helium and metal to confuse Russian aircraft targeting Aleppo.”
“Syrian rebels have been urging the US and other western countries to provide fighters with weapons to counter the air strikes so they don’t have to resort to rudimentary ways to counter the attacks,” the report continued.