Syrian War Enters 8th Year, Trailing Smoke And Suffering In Its Wake
The Syrian war crossed a wretched threshold Thursday, marking seven years since the start of the protests against President Bashar Assad's regime. Within months Assad had sent troops to crush the uprising, sparking a civil war that has gathered antagonists at a rate only exceeded by its human costs — which, by many estimations, have left roughly 400,00 people dead and displaced half the population.
But the milestone meant little to the civilians and medics huddled in basements in eastern Ghouta, the disputed suburban sprawl just outside Damascus. There they hid in squalid conditions, as many have for weeks, from the relentless blasts sounding out a dreadful beat above them.
"The conditions in some of those basements, we're told — with real problems with sanitation, with running water, often not having on Thursday. "It's hard to think of life being any more miserable — because of course, if they go out on the streets there's a real risk they'll get killed."
