Ghouta und Afrin: Massenflucht

Und wieder sind zehntausende Syrer auf der Flucht aus den Ghoutas und aus Afrin:

Heavy air strikes targeted a rebel-held area of Eastern Ghouta on Friday, killing 10 people in the town of Saqba, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Observatory said Russian jets carried out the strikes, citing its activist network on the ground. Advancing Syrian government forces have splintered the area close to Damascus into three enclaves in an offensive that has been underway for a month.

The latest wave of air strikes hit the southern-most enclave of Eastern Ghouta, from which thousands of civilians fled on Thursday into government-held territory.

The UK-based Observatory said nearly 20,000 people fled the enclave in 24 hours before the flow stopped on Thursday evening.

It called the exodus "the largest displacement since the beginning of the assault on Ghouta". (...)

More than 30,000 civilians also fled the northern Syrian enclave of Afrin on Thursday where Turkey and Syrian Arab rebel groups are fighting the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Early on Friday morning, Turkish artillery fire killed at least 18 civilians, including five children, and wounded dozens more in Afrin, according to the Observatory.

Ankara has consistently denied targeting civilian infrastructure during its nearly two-month-old campaign, but the Observatory said at least 245 civilians, including 41 children, have been killed.

As the offensives escalated, the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey were locked in talks on Syria in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Friday.