Syria’s War Is Getting Even Worse

A Syrian Civil Defense member carrying a wounded child in the besieged town of Hamoria, in Eastern Ghouta, last month. Credit Bassam Khabieh/Reuters

New York Times: It’s Hard to Believe, but Syria’s War Is Getting Even Worse

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Half a dozen newborns, blinking and arching their backs, were carried from a burning hospital hit by airstrikes. A bombed apartment house collapsed, burying families. Medics doused patients with water after a suspected chlorine attack, one of five in Syria since the start of the year.

That was just a fraction of the violence this week in northern Syria, according to residents and rescue workers, as the Syrian government and its Russian ally stepped up their air war on two of the country’s last major rebel-held areas.

“All types of weapons have been used on us for seven years, and the whole world is watching,” said Moaz al-Shami, an antigovernment activist in the north Syrian town of Saraqeb, where a medical clinic was hit as its staff was treating people wounded in a market bombing while buying potatoes. “In Saraqeb, we die twice.”

Since the rout of the Islamic State last year, and steady government advances against other insurgent groups, a misperception has grown abroad that the Syrian war is winding down. Instead, the carnage is reaching a new peak.

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WNU Editor: One thing that I have learned about covering wars via through this blog is that the real killing (in terms of numbers) usually occurs near the end of a war. I think this is what we are witnessing now in Syria.