Press Release
Ghouta’s Children, Rising figures in International Statistics
(Translated)

Since February 18^th, the brutal forces of the Syrian regime supported by the Russian air force has continued its fierce attack on eastern Ghouta, after dividing it into three combat zones. As a result, it managed to control more than 80 percent of the area adjacent to the capital, Damascus, which since 2012 has been the largest and most prominent stronghold of the opposition factions.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported intensive air strikes and rocket attacks on the city of Arbin in eastern Ghouta by warplanes after midnight last Tuesday, killing more than 20 civilians, including 16 children and 4 women, in addition to injuring dozens of civilians; all were children and women. The tragic situation of those sheltering in the basement of a school turned into a shelter for hundreds escaping from the indiscriminate relentless shelling.

The Human Rights Office of Arbin also documented the killing of 98 civilians during March in the largest military campaign in the eastern towns and villages of Ghouta since a month ago. Ten explosive barrel strikes were recorded within half an hour!

Since the beginning of this military escalation, more than 1450 civilians have been killed, including nearly 300 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said the number of child deaths doubled in 2017 compared with the previous year. Every year since the start of the revolution in Syria, the number of child deaths has increased, and these international organizations put all their energies in registering these deaths as non-human figures on the statistics tables. How much will the number reach at the end of 2018?!

The city of Arbin, like other cities of Eastern Ghouta, faces a tragic situation while we see the rulers of the House of Saud conduct military deals and buy weapons in millions of dollars under the pretext of fighting the Houthis and standing in the face of the Iranian attack on the region. And we see the Turkish ruler vowing to expand the "Olive Branch" operation in Syria to other areas controlled by the Kurds even in the Iraqi border.

We apologize to our people in Ghouta, for your suffering city does not fall within the demographic map that Erdogan has set his eyes on to defend his national security, and we apologize to you O children of Ghouta, forthe ruler of the Saud family mobilizes his military forces and supplies them with the strongest weapons to lead a proxy war for his American master in Yemen..

O Muslims know that the first steps of liberation and lifting of injustice begins with the liberation of our lands from these rulers. Then the occupied countries will be liberated and the rest of the countries will be liberated too, in addition to the liberation of your power represented by your armies that will defend you and do their part in defending your honour and the lives of your children.

We address those armies and call them to what brings pride, victory and liberation of their Ummah: remove the rulers in support of your Deen’s project [establishing the Caliphate].

Know that your obedience to these puppet rulers in their projects and your silence about what is happening to the Muslims in Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan, Burma, etc. is a great sin. Allah (swt) says:

﴿وَإِنِ اسْتَنصَرُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ فَعَلَيْكُمُ النَّصْرُ﴾

“And if they seek help of you for the religion, then you must help” [Al-Anfal: 72].

 Women’s Section
in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir