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Conflict in Syria

Russian Defense Ministry refutes allegations about Russian air strikes in Eastern Ghouta

Russia’s air force delivers no strikes against residential quarters, top brass reiterates

© EPA-EFE/MOHAMMED BADRA

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry has refuted media allegations about Russian airstrikes in Eastern Ghouta allegedly killing 37 civilians.

"Russia’s air force never delivers any strikes at Eastern Ghouta’s residential quarters, neither does it use incendiary weapons, unlike the US-led international coalition," the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

"Allegations circulated by profiteers from human suffering, such as the White Helmets and the British so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights are a glaring lie," the ministry said.

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Russian military delivers food to thousands of Eastern Ghouta residents

Western media reported earlier citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that 37 civilians had allegedly been killed in Russian airstrikes delivered at night at Arbil in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta. The White Helmets, in turn, said that incendiary bombs had allegedly been used.

The Russian Defense Ministry cited polls of hundreds of civilians evacuated from Eastern Ghouta with the help of the Russian center for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria saying that the so-called White Helmet representatives are active only in areas controlled by Jabhat al-Nusra (outlawed in Russia) terrorists. Eastern Ghouta residents have seen no assistance from the White Helmets, the ministry noted, adding that this fact was confirmed by members of armed opposition groups who opted to leave this area for the Idlib de-escalation zone.

"That is why blind readiness of some European mass media to quote any false information from the White Helmets leaves us perplexed," the ministry stressed.

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