Civilians Killed in Syria, Most in Russian Air Strikes

A cloud of smoke is seen near Al-Tamanah in Syria's province of Idlib. AFP file photo
A cloud of smoke is seen near Al-Tamanah in Syria's province of Idlib. AFP file photo
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Civilians Killed in Syria, Most in Russian Air Strikes

A cloud of smoke is seen near Al-Tamanah in Syria's province of Idlib. AFP file photo
A cloud of smoke is seen near Al-Tamanah in Syria's province of Idlib. AFP file photo

At least 23 civilians were killed Wednesday in the Syrian opposition stronghold of Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, most of them in Russian air raids, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based Observatory told Agence France Presse that 18 people were killed by Russian strikes in the town of Misraba, while the remainder died in shelling from regime forces.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said three children and 11 women were among those killed.

Victims were taken to a hospital in Douma, where an AFP correspondent saw rescuers bringing in mostly women and children.

A medical source at the hospital told the news agency that "among the wounded were two women in their twenties."

Medical staff tried to revive an infant who had been pulled from the rubble, but without success. A young girl among the wounded received stitches for a serious injury to her face.

The latest raids came after at least seven civilians, including five children, were killed Tuesday by air strikes in northwestern Idlib province, the Observatory said.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.