The United Nations children's fund UNICEF expressed outrage on Tuesday over the ongoing mass casualties among Syrian children, releasing a blank “statement” to demonstrate its lack of words to describe the situation in the besieged enclave of Eastern Ghouta and neighboring Damascus
"No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones," the release from UNICEF's regional director Geert Cappalaere began.
There followed 10 empty lines with quote marks indicating missing text, and an explanatory footnote.
"UNICEF is issuing this blank statement. We no longer have the words to describe children’s suffering and our outrage," it said.
"Do those inflicting the suffering still have words to justify their barbaric acts?"
Forces loyal to regime head Bashar Assad have been besieging almost 400,000 civilians trapped inside Eastern Ghouta for years, but the siege has tightened this year and attacks on the enclave have intensified.
Siege tactics and indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas contravene the internationally-agreed "rules of war".
Pro-regime forces carried out air raids on Eastern Ghouta overnight on Monday and early on Tuesday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
More than 100 people were killed in air raids, rocket strikes and shelling of the area on Monday, it added.
On Tuesday alone, 45 people were killed in regime bombardment, said the Observatory. Over 850 people have been injured since Sunday intense strikes began.
The UN called for an immediate ceasefire in the area on Monday, saying the situation was “spiraling out of control” after an “extreme escalation in hostilities”.
Neither the Syrian regime forces nor Russia commented on the renewed bombardment in eastern Ghouta, but they have often said they do not target civilians.
The Observatory said the intensified bombing was in preparation for a pro-regime ground offensive against the enclave and that a rebel group there had foiled an attempt by regime troops to advance at al-Marj overnight.
