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Moment of pivotal documentation #Damascus countryside The regime forces targeted the residential neighborhoods of the city on Wednesday evening 07-03-18 with rocket launchers loaded with internationally banned phosphorous causing dozens of fires Source: Syrian Civil Defense: image via Ghouta Media Center @Ghouta_GMC, 8 March 2018 ![]()
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The moment of detonation of an explosive barrel dropped from a Syrian regime helicopter on the city of Arbin in the Ghouta countryside #Damascus Photo by Ali Abu Huwara @Ghouta_GMC: image via Ghouta Media Center @Ghouta_GMC, 1:22 PM 10 March 2018
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Moment of pivotal documentation #Damascus countryside The regime forces targeted the residential neighborhoods of the city on Wednesday evening 07-03-18 with rocket launchers loaded with internationally banned phosphorous causing dozens of fires Source: Syrian Civil Defense: image via Ghouta Media Center @Ghouta_GMC, 8 March 2018
Two martyrs were burned by the air bombarment of Russian warplanes targeting the residential areas in #Hamuriyaon Wednesday 09-03-18 Source: Syrian Civil Defense: image via Ghouta Media Center @Ghouta_GMC, 8 March 2018
#Eastern_Ghouta @mouneb_abo_taim: image via mouneb abo taim @mouneb_abo_taim, 9 March 2018
Days of great fatigue Hard days #Eastern_Ghouta @mouneb_abo_taim: image via mouneb abo taim @mouneb_abo_taim, 9 March 2018
Más de 1.000 civiles murieron, de ellos 215 niños, desde que comenzó hace tres semanas la brutal ofensiva del régimen sirio contra el enclave rebelde de Guta Oriental (OSDH) #AFP: image via Agence France-Presse @AFPespanol, 10:28 AM 10 March 2018
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Smoke billows following Syrian government bombardment on #KafrBatna, in the besieged #EasternGhouta region on the outskirts of the capital #Damascus on March 10, 2018. #AFP / Ammar Suleiman: image via Ammar Sulaiman @ammarsulaiman91, 3:49 PM 10 March 2018
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A boy walks in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta. Syrian government forces have seized vast swathes of territory from rebels in the opposition-held suburbs of Damascus,effectively dividing eastern Ghouta in two and further squeezing rebels and the tens of thousands of civilians trapped inside.: photobyBassam Khabieh/Reuters, 10 March 2018
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![Syrians walk past destroyed buildings in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta on March 9, 2018]()
![Syrian regime forces are seen in the town of Aftris in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on March 10, 2018]()
![Syrians walk past a destroyed mosque in the Eastern Ghouta region on March 9, 2018]()
![Syrian troops have cut off the battered town of Douma from the rest of the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta enclave]()
Syrian troops have cut off the battered town of Douma from the rest of the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta enclave: photo by AFP, 10 March 2018
Rebels said they would be taken to HTS territory in the northern province of Idlib, in an arrangement struck following consultations with the UN and international players.
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A boy walks in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta. Syrian government forces have seized vast swathes of territory from rebels in the opposition-held suburbs of Damascus,effectively dividing eastern Ghouta in two and further squeezing rebels and the tens of thousands of civilians trapped inside.: photobyBassam Khabieh/Reuters, 10 March 2018
Syria army cuts off main rebel town in Ghouta as death toll tops 1,000: AFP, 08:21 EST 10 March 2018
Syrian regime forces on Saturday cut off the largest town in Eastern Ghouta from the rest of the rebel-held enclave near Damascus, pressing on with a 20-day assault that has left more than 1,000 civilians dead.
Government troops and allied militia launched their military campaign for Eastern Ghouta on February 18 and have since overrun more than half of the area, defying global calls for a halt to the violence.
The assault has followed a divide-and-conquer strategy, eating away at rebel-held territory, and government forces on Saturday successfully isolated Ghouta's main town of Douma in a blow for the beleaguered rebels.
Regime fighters cut off a road linking Douma with the town of Harasta further west and also captured the town of Misraba, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"Regime forces have therefore divided Eastern Ghouta into three parts -- Douma and its surroundings, Harasta in the west, and the rest of the towns further south," the Britain-based monitor said.
Syrians walk past destroyed buildings in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta on March 9, 2018: photo by AFP, 9 March 2018
Shelling and air strikes slammed into Douma on Saturday, trapping residents inside their basements for hours, AFP's correspondents in the town said.
Rescue workers and medics were struggling to navigate the town's rubble-littered roads to bring wounded residents back to field clinics.
At least 20 civilians -- including four children -- were killed in Douma on Saturday, in addition to 17 civilians in other battlefront towns, said the Observatory.
The deaths raised the assault's total toll to 1,031 civilians, including 219 children, according to the Observatory. More than 4,350 have been wounded.
Douma's opposition-run local council issued an urgent "distress call" on Saturday to international organisations.
"The bomb shelters and basements are full, and people are sleeping in the streets and in public gardens," the statement said.
"For three days, it has been hard to bury the dead because of the intense bombing on the cemetery," it added.
Syrian regime forces are seen in the town of Aftris in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on March 10, 2018: photo by AFP, 10 March 2018
Eastern Ghouta is the last remaining opposition-controlled zone on the outskirts of the capital, and rebels there have regularly fired rockets onto Damascus.
On Saturday, at least one child was killed and four other civilians wounded in rebel shelling on eastern districts of Damascus, according to state news agency SANA.
Rebels have tried to slow the advance with an attempted counter-offensive, but President Bashar al-Assad's forces steamrolled their efforts.
Syrian state television broadcast live footage from Misraba hours after it was captured by the army on Saturday, showing dozens of civilians in a dark basement, surrounded by troops.
Syrians walk past a destroyed mosque in the Eastern Ghouta region on March 9, 2018: photo by AFP, 9 March 2018
One elderly man broke down into tears as he relayed how his family had fled to Douma under fierce bombardment.
Eastern Ghouta is home to around 400,000 people, living under a five-year siege that has made food and medical aid exceedingly rare.
On Friday, an aid convoy by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent delivered food to hunger-stricken residents.
It was the second convoy in one week, after deliveries on Monday were interrupted by heavy bombardment.
'Scared faces'
The UN refugee agency's Syria representative, who entered Ghouta with Monday's convoy, said the area was "on the verge of a major disaster".
"I've never seen such scared faces in my life," Sajjad Malik said Friday.
He described seeing a five-storey building that had been reduced to rubble, with a powerful stench emanating from several bodies trapped underneath.
Syrian troops have cut off the battered town of Douma from the rest of the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta enclave: photo by AFP, 10 March 2018
Two Islamist groups are the most prominent rebel factions in Ghouta, but jihadists from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) -- once linked to Al-Qaeda's Syria branch -- also have a presence.
On Friday, 13 HTS members and their relatives were bussed out of the enclave.
Rebels said they would be taken to HTS territory in the northern province of Idlib, in an arrangement struck following consultations with the UN and international players.
Such evacuation deals have been repeatedly agreed in Syria's seven-year war, most notably in the second city of Aleppo in late 2016.
After a ferocious month-long government assault, thousands of rebel fighters and civilians were bussed out of the city's east.
That paved the way for Syria's government to announce the full recapture of Aleppo -- the largest defeat to date for the fractured opposition movement.
Syria's conflict erupted with protests against Assad but has since developed into a full-blown war drawing in world powers.
Russia has intervened on Assad's behalf while Turkey has backed rebels against his regime, rival jihadists and Kurdish forces.
Saturday, Ankara-backed rebels advanced against Kurdish militia in northwest Syria, coming to within two kilometres (just over one mile) of the flashpoint town of Afrin, the Observatory said.
Elsewhere in Syria, the White Helmets rescue force suffered its first female fatality on Saturday, after air strikes hit a rebel-held town in Idlib province.
The massive destruction caused by the Russian air strikes on the city of #KafrBatna in the #Ghouta #Save_Ghouta #GhoutaGMC #Damascus Photo: Abu Anas: image via Ghouta Media Center @Ghouta_GMC, 3:05 PM 9 March 2018
The massive destruction caused by the Russian air strikes on the city of #KafrBatna in the #Ghouta #Save_Ghouta #GhoutaGMC #Damascus Photo: Abu Anas: image via Ghouta Media Center @Ghouta_GMC, 3:05 PM 9 March 2018
The massive destruction caused by the Russian air strikes on the city of #KafrBatna in the #Ghouta #Save_Ghouta #GhoutaGMC #Damascus Photo: Abu Anas: image via Ghouta Media Center @Ghouta_GMC, 3:05 PM 9 March 2018
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The massive destruction caused by the Russian air strikes on the city of #KafrBatna in the #Ghouta #Save_Ghouta #GhoutaGMC #Damascus Photo: Abu Anas: image via Ghouta Media Center @Ghouta_GMC, 3:05 PM 9 March 2018
A boy is seen in the street beside a Syrian Red Crescent van in Douma: photo via The Observer, 10 March 2018
Ruins of war in the streets of Douma, Eastern Ghouta: photo via The Observer, 10 March 2018
Syrian forces attacking eastern Ghouta ‘have surrounded rebels in Douma': Largest town in region reported to be cut off as government forces press their advantage: Kareem Shaheenin Istanbul, The Observer, 10 March 2018
A devastated street in Douma on Friday.: photo by Mohammed Badra/EPA, 9 March 2018
Forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad have essentially split off Douma from the rest of eastern Ghouta, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a day after a Red Cross and UN aid convoy arrived in the town to unload food supplies to thousands of civilians in desperate need. Douma was once one of the largest cities in Syria.
The report from the UK-based human rights group, which said both Douma and the smaller nearby town of Harasta were surrounded and cut off, was disputed by locals, but such an outcome seems inevitable in any event as the regime presses its advantage, backed by both Syrian and Russian airstrikes.
It also raises greater humanitarian concerns and fears for the lives of civilians living in the area, who have fled the government’s advance. More than 1,000 people have been killed in the last two weeks of violence in eastern Ghouta, which borders the capital Damascus, according to Médecins sans Frontières, which has gathered data from hospitals in the area that it supports.
The violence has continued despite a UN security council resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid “without delay”. Residents have spent weeks living underground in bomb shelters, suffering food shortages and a lack of medical supplies, with doctors saying they are overwhelmed by the number of wounded.
Reports of chemical attacks that may have involved chlorine or organophosphorus have also emerged in recent days, despite warnings by western powers that use of chemical weapons might prompt them to intervene in the unfolding crisis.
The UN secretary general has described the situation in eastern Ghouta as “hell on earth” and the body’s high commissioner for human rights described the military offensive as a “monstrous annihilation”.
Children collecting wood in the besieged town.: photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters, 10 March 2018
In a statement on Twitter on Friday, Jaish al-Islam, one of the main factions in eastern Ghouta, said the decision had been taken in consultation with the UN, a number of international parties and civil society representatives from eastern Ghouta. A few fighters were evacuated in an initial batch.
Jaish al-Islam and Faylaq al-Rahman, two Islamist rebel groups, control most of the opposition-held areas of eastern Ghouta. Any solution to the crisis will probably involve a partial evacuation of rebel fighters and perhaps civilians, in a deal similar to past surrender agreements between the government and rebels.
Moscow had justified the continued bombardment of the area by saying extremists remained embedded in the towns and were preventing civilians from taking advantage of a designated evacuation corridor to flee the fighting.
Residents say they fear government retribution if they were to try and flee the area, or the possibility of being redrafted into the Syrian military and sent to fight on the frontline.
“If I thought about leaving Ghouta I would worry about the regime because there are no guarantees: and, second, I would worry about Jaish al-Islam, because they won’t let us leave,” said one activist in Douma. “If 100 families leave Ghouta, the regime will say they’ve evacuated all the civilians and then burn it all.
“We have no guarantees that the regime will protect the families that want to leave and that it won’t send the men to the frontlines,” he added.
mexicandate s [Moscow]: photo by Stepan Zayntsev, 31 October 2017
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whitypee s [Moscow]: photo by Stepan Zayntsev, 25 December 2017
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chkyoudrunk s [Moscow]: photo by Stepan Zayntsev, 21 February 2018
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Douma Ghost Town: photo by Hamza Al-Ajweh / Agence France-Presse, 9 March 2018
Vermont (Children's Hour)
chkyoudrunk s [Moscow]: photo by Stepan Zayntsev, 21 February 2018
Douma Ghost Town: photo by Hamza Al-Ajweh / Agence France-Presse, 9 March 2018
So, it’s a @vinegarsyndrome print so it looks amazing, but if my history with Andy Milligan films is anything to go by I’ll be asleep in no time. #andymilligan #guruthemadmonk: image via #dadvibes @wayn0r, 12 February 2018
After twenty years alone in the cabin in the woods
everything began to smell faintly of his feet, academia
started to look not so bad after all, looking back on it
but to these people none of that seemed to matter
they had taken him in as if he were one of their own
and were never going to let him go back
how often in life does something like that happen
![Untitled | by Džesika Devic]()
Untitled: photo by dzesika devic, 24 June 2017
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Italian elections descend into chaos as Madame Tussauds refuse to release Silvio Berlusconi: image via Have I Got News For You @haveigotnews, 5 March 2018
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nt: photo by Riccardo Cattaneo, 9 March2018
Dhaka, Bangladesh: photo by Sohail Bin Mohammad, 28 June 2017
Untitled: photo by dzesika devic, 24 June 2017
Vermontsylvania
So, it’s a @vinegarsyndrome print so it looks amazing, but if my history with Andy Milligan films is anything to go by I’ll be asleep in no time. #andymilligan #guruthemadmonk: image via #dadvibes @wayn0r, 12 February 2018
After twenty years alone in the cabin in the woods
the tufts of fur that had sprouted between his toes grew thick
so that when he padded across the floor of rude boards
a soft thupping sound was the sound he made, and too
the cabin seemed to be shrinking, or perhaps subtly
expanding, it was hard to tell any more so that
once the long evening of howling at the moon was done
there was space for quiet reflection, and perhaps passing gas
stoves without pausing to light them was not the best course after all,
the nights in the woods were very cold, but living
as a horror movie meme was never going to be easy
and now things were somehow a bit different in the cabin
the tufts of fur that had sprouted between his toes grew thick
so that when he padded across the floor of rude boards
a soft thupping sound was the sound he made, and too
the cabin seemed to be shrinking, or perhaps subtly
expanding, it was hard to tell any more so that
once the long evening of howling at the moon was done
there was space for quiet reflection, and perhaps passing gas
stoves without pausing to light them was not the best course after all,
the nights in the woods were very cold, but living
as a horror movie meme was never going to be easy
and now things were somehow a bit different in the cabin
everything had sometime since begun to smell faintly of his feet, academia
started to look not so bad after all, looking back on it
but to these people none of that seemed to matter
they had taken him in as if he were one of their own
and were never going to let him go back
how often in life does something like that happen
The Shape of Water (2017): image via Fred Delicious @Fred_Delicious, 9 March 2018
my work here is done: image via Greg Beef @vrunt, 7 March 2018
Italian elections descend into chaos as Madame Tussauds refuse to release Silvio Berlusconi: image via Have I Got News For You @haveigotnews, 5 March 2018
In the episode 'Peppa's Pumpkin Party' the narratormakes this observation, and therefore it is canon that in the Peppa Pig universe, Madame Gazelle is a literal vampire and therefore survives by consuming blood.: image Fred Delicious @Fred_Delicious, 3March 2018
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I PLEDGE TO WORK FOR FREE for any school to help secure the children. I am a retired veteran, 29 years of service, Infantry Sergeant Major, U.S. Army Ranger with combat experience. I have a conceal carry, Primary and Alternate side arms, an AR-15, and all necessary tactical gear.: image Fred Delicious @Fred_Delicious, 27 February 2018
When the secret service returns with a Happy Meal: image Fred Delicious @Fred_Delicious, 26 February 2018
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When your teacher hears an unexplained noise in the corridor: image Fred Delicious @Fred_Delicious, 24 February 2018
When your teacher hears an unexplained noise in the corridor: image Fred Delicious @Fred_Delicious, 24 February 2018
"I would have seen Black Panther 3 times opening weekend if I could have”: image via Dana Schwartz @DanaSchwartzzz, 19 February 2018
When the server tries to take my plate but I still have one french fry left: image via JP Lovecraft @online_shawn, 20 February 2018
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Show yourself Inspector Gadget: image via Summer Ray @Summer Ray, 28 February 2018
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Replying to @SumerRay @spookydirt: image via Lee Roberts @ff_Lurch, 2 March 2018
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HELP ME IM SNOWED IN: image via Summer Ray @SummerRay, 27 February 2018
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When you just broke up with your boyfriend but you know he still follows you: image via Summer Ray @SummerRay, 6 February 2018
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When your mum says this is just a phase and you're determined to prove her wrong: image via Summer Ray @SummerRay, 6 February 2018
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Just remembered that time I almost passed out on the train when I saw a woman with invisible legs: image via Summer Ray @SummerRay, 6 February 2018
![nt | by Riccardo Gerbi Cattaneo]()
Replying to @SumerRay @spookydirt: image via Lee Roberts @ff_Lurch, 2 March 2018
HELP ME IM SNOWED IN: image via Summer Ray @SummerRay, 27 February 2018
When you just broke up with your boyfriend but you know he still follows you: image via Summer Ray @SummerRay, 6 February 2018
When your mum says this is just a phase and you're determined to prove her wrong: image via Summer Ray @SummerRay, 6 February 2018
Just remembered that time I almost passed out on the train when I saw a woman with invisible legs: image via Summer Ray @SummerRay, 6 February 2018
nt: photo by Riccardo Cattaneo, 9 March2018
Dhaka, Bangladesh: photo by Sohail Bin Mohammad, 28 June 2017