Airstrike in Syria kills 15 children sheltering in school

Three missiles from a single strike hit the school reducing it to ruins and killing those who were sheltering in its basement.

A Syrian boy covers his face as he stands amid destroyed buildings following government air strikes in the Eastern Ghouta rebel-held enclave of Douma, on the outskirts of the capital Damascus on March 19, 2018. At least 20 civilians have died in a resumption of bombing on Douma, the largest town in shrinking rebel-controlled pockets of Syria's Eastern Ghouta, a monitor said. The fresh bloodshed came after a week-long lull in the bombardment of Douma after negotiations between rebels and regime-backer Russia allowed medical evacuations from the town. / AFP PHOTO / HAMZA AL-AJWEH

New Delhi: In a ferocious air strike on a school in Syria’s rebel held Eastern Ghouta, at least 15 children and two women lost their lives. The deceased were using the school’s basement as bomb shelter. According to reports, three missiles from a single strike hit the school reducing it to ruins and killing those who were sheltering in its basement. The search for survivors is still on by the rescue workers. Since about a month, the Syria is crippling under fierce air strikes and ground shelling by government troops and allied militia in order to drive out the rebels from the region. Ghouta has been under attack since long, with many civilians losing their lives. Reports have it that 80 percent of the region has been captured by the government and the rest has been split into three groups, each under a separate rebel unit. The government troops have launched an intensive exercise against the rebels over past month, opening a corridor for the civilians to flee into government-controlled territory. While many have fled to the government controlled territories, many hid deeper in the rebel pockets while many succumb to the circumstances.