Eastern Ghouta

“It was hell”… “We were the living dead” – the words of Syrians emerging from the years of Militant Islamist rebel control and bombardment by Syrian, Russian and Iranian forces. This week for the first time in seven years the Syrian government fully controls its own capital.

Syrian activists say at least 40 people have been killed in a poison gas attack on Douma – the last rebel-held town in Eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus… rescue teams described finding families suffocated in their homes. Relief workers in the town said hundreds more people had been brought into clinics, with symptoms…

The Syrian army says it’s on the verge of cutting through the surrounded, rebel-held area of east Ghouta near the capital Damascus. According to human rights groups, more than 900 civilians have been killed there in the last 18 days and the Red Cross has held back an aid convoy because of the intense fighting.…

Syrian member of parliament Nora Arissian discusses rebel attacks on Damascus.

I spent some of today at one of the finest government hospitals in Syria, the Al-Mouwasat University Hospital, seeing how they’re able to cope with injuries from rebel attacks. We’ve also once again been able to film Syrian forces attacking Eastern Ghouta from the Harasta suburb of Damascus. A warning: there are distressing images in my…

From 9am until 2pm, the guns will fall silent, according to the man literally calling the shots apparently over Eastern Ghouta now – President Putin of Russia. It’s a long way from the 30-day ceasefire without delay demanded by the UN Security Council. But better than non-stop fighting There will also be the much talked…

“Today we’ll see if Russia has a conscience” declared the US Ambassador to the UN this evening. All the while Syria has been pounding eastern Ghouta with warplanes and artillery guns. Activists and rescuers say around forty-one people have been killed today, taking the total this week to over 500. Warning: this report contains distressing…