Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the UN Security Council on Monday that the Syrian government has “every right to try and remove the threat to the safety of its citizens” and described the Damascus suburbs as a “hotbed of terrorism.”
The Syrian army’s onslaught in eastern Ghouta, backed by air and artillery strikes, has killed about 1,160 people since 18 February, a war monitor said, as President Bashar al-Assad seeks to crush the last big rebel stronghold near the capital Damascus.