Syria regime strikes rebel enclave as aid trucks wait

– Civilian escape –

Moscow and Damascus accused anti-regime forces in Eastern Ghouta of deliberately shelling the designated safe passage to prevent civilians from leaving and keep them as human shields.

“Over the last three days, people have failed to leave the Eastern Ghouta. Illegal armed formations have taken people hostages and do not let them leave the danger zones,” a Russian military statement said, claiming “dozens” of civilians tried to leave Thursday.

AFP journalists at the Wafideen checkpoint through which civilians were asked to evacuate the enclave said no movement was reported, however.

The only civilians believed to have fled since the “pause” took effect are an elderly Pakistani couple who had remained in Ghouta throughout the seven-year conflict but decided to leave when the violence increased.

Mohammad Fadhl Akram, 73, moved to Syria in 1974.

He and his wife, who left on Wednesday and were given shelter at the Pakistani embassy in Damascus, leave two sons, three daughters and 12 grandchildren behind.

“I hope God protects them,” Akram told AFP reporter in the main eastern Ghouta town of Douma this week.

“I don’t want anything else.”