The Horror of Eastern Ghouta: Chemical Attacks, Starvation, and the Shocking Truth Behind Syria’s War Crimes
Introduction
The siege of Eastern Ghouta, a collection of towns and suburbs located just outside Syria’s capital, Damascus, is one of the darkest chapters of the Syrian Civil War. The Assad regime’s brutal assault on this rebel-held enclave lasted for years, and the lives of the people trapped within it became an unimaginable nightmare. The siege was not just a military strategy; it was an all-out war on the very survival of the civilian population. The residents of Ghouta faced relentless bombings, food and water shortages, and unimaginable violence, including the use of chemical weapons—an atrocity that not only violated international law but also violated the basic principles of humanity.
This article uncovers the full scale of the horrors faced by Eastern Ghouta’s civilians during the siege. From the use of sarin gas to the heartbreaking tales of survival amid starvation, this story paints a harrowing picture of how war can obliterate a population, reduce cities to rubble, and leave a generation scarred for life. It also explores the failure of the international community to intervene, the role of the Assad regime in perpetuating these crimes, and the desperate calls from survivors who just want their children to live in a world without such horrors.
The Siege Begins: A City in Lockdown
Eastern Ghouta was once a thriving area, a suburban region just a few kilometers away from Damascus, home to over 400,000 people. In 2012, the Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, began targeting opposition-held areas in and around the capital. Ghouta became one of the last rebel strongholds in the greater Damascus area, and the Assad regime made it a strategic objective to reclaim the area, no matter the cost.
By 2013, Assad’s forces imposed a brutal siege on Eastern Ghouta, cutting off food, medical supplies, and aid to the civilian population. With no way to escape, Ghouta’s residents were left trapped between the horrors of constant airstrikes and artillery bombardment. International aid organizations warned of growing humanitarian crises, but their efforts were consistently thwarted by the Assad regime, which denied entry to convoys and blocked any attempt at relief.
The Terrifying Use of Chemical Weapons
As if the bombs and bullets were not enough, Assad’s forces escalated their brutality by using chemical weapons, a war crime under international law. The first large-scale chemical attack occurred in August 2013, when rockets loaded with sarin gas struck the suburbs of Eastern Ghouta. The attack took the lives of at least 1,400 people, including hundreds of children. The impact was immediate and horrifying—many people died within minutes of exposure, while others were left gasping for air as the nerve agent attacked their respiratory systems.
Sarin is a colorless, odorless nerve agent that attacks the nervous system, causing paralysis and death by asphyxiation. It is particularly lethal in confined spaces, and the people of Eastern Ghouta, many of whom had taken shelter in basements and underground tunnels, found themselves unable to escape its effects. Survivors spoke of watching their friends and family members choke to death in front of them, helpless to do anything.
Anas Sagherjy, a resident of the town of Hazeh, described his experience: “We thought it was a normal airstrike, like always. But this time, something was different. People started to choke, and within minutes, they were dead. We didn’t understand at first. Then we saw our neighbors falling to the ground, unable to breathe.” For many residents, the attacks were a brutal reminder of how the Assad regime was willing to use any means necessary to break the opposition’s hold on the area.
International Reactions: The World Watches in Silence
The attack in Ghouta marked a critical moment in the Syrian conflict and the use of chemical weapons. President Barack Obama had previously declared that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would be a “red line.” When the Ghouta attack occurred, many expected a strong international response. But the response was underwhelming. Despite overwhelming evidence pointing to the Syrian government’s responsibility, the U.S. and other world powers opted for diplomatic measures rather than military intervention. The Syrian government signed the Chemical Weapons Convention and agreed to dismantle its declared chemical weapons stockpile, but this did little to stop the regime’s continued use of such weapons in subsequent years.
The failure of the international community to act decisively in the face of such blatant war crimes is a dark chapter in the history of international diplomacy. While world leaders expressed outrage, the situation on the ground worsened, and chemical attacks continued to ravage Eastern Ghouta. According to Human Rights Watch, between 2013 and 2018, there were at least 85 documented chemical attacks in Syria, the vast majority of which were attributed to Assad’s forces.
The Struggle for Survival: Starvation and Desperation
As if the threat of chemical attacks and bombardment wasn’t enough, the people of Eastern Ghouta were subjected to another form of cruelty: starvation. The siege was designed not only to kill but to force the population into submission by depriving them of basic necessities. By 2016, the United Nations estimated that 265,000 people were trapped in the region, with little to no access to food, clean water, or medical care. The regime cut off all humanitarian aid and blocked attempts at ceasefires or evacuations.
Residents were forced to turn to desperate measures to survive. Samir Bakhit, another survivor of the siege, recalled: “We were eating grass, anything we could find. The animals were eating better than we were. The Syrian Red Crescent didn’t come here, and we had no food left. We dug wells, but the water was contaminated. We had no choice but to drink it.” The daily life of Ghouta’s residents became one of constant fear and desperation. Many people died from malnutrition, dehydration, and preventable diseases due to the lack of medical supplies.
To stay warm during the cold winters, families burned whatever they could find—plastic bottles, shoes, and even furniture. When the supplies ran out, people were forced to burn their own belongings. But even in the face of such unimaginable hardship, the people of Eastern Ghouta did not give up hope. They dug tunnels to reach the nearby town of Jobar, which still had some access to roads leading out of the area. This underground network of tunnels became their lifeline, though it too came under attack.
The Psychological Impact of War
Beyond the physical suffering, the psychological toll of the siege was immense. Survivors, especially children, were left scarred by their experiences. Anas Sagherjy shared his own trauma: “We lived through constant bombing, starvation, and death. But the chemical attacks were the worst. I lost so many friends, so many family members. How do you explain to a child what happened? How do you heal from that kind of pain?”
Psychological damage, particularly among children, has been one of the most long-lasting consequences of the siege. Many children who survived the attacks suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Schools were destroyed, and children were left to cope with the horrors of war without any real support systems in place. In addition to the immediate trauma, there was also the long-term impact of having lived through such a brutal and dehumanizing experience.
The Assad Regime’s Brutal Tactics
The regime’s treatment of the people of Eastern Ghouta went beyond just military tactics—it was an ideological effort to punish those who dared oppose Assad’s rule. In the eyes of the government, anyone in the region was a “terrorist” simply by association. As a result, many residents of Ghouta were detained, tortured, and killed for the simple act of resisting or even for living in opposition-controlled areas.
Anas Sagherjy, who was not a fighter but a civilian, was arrested and tortured for a month in the infamous Mezzeh prison in Damascus. “They would put out cigarettes on my head. I was forced to stand for days on end, unable to sit or sleep. When I was finally released, my legs were so damaged that I needed surgery to walk again,” he recalled. Anas’s experience was far from unique. Many residents of Ghouta spent months or even years in detention, enduring similar torture and abuse at the hands of the regime’s security forces.
The Final Assault: Douma and the End of the Siege
The siege of Eastern Ghouta officially ended in April 2018 with the fall of Douma, the last rebel-held town. But not before another deadly chemical attack. On April 7, 2018, Syrian Air Force helicopters dropped chlorine gas on Douma, killing at least 43 people who had sought refuge in basements beneath their homes. The attack was a final show of power by the Assad regime before the last remaining rebel forces, led by the group Jaish al-Islam, agreed to surrender and evacuate.
In the days that followed, over 100,000 people—rebels, their families, and civilians—were evacuated to Idlib in northern Syria as part of an agreement brokered by Russia. The chemical attack in Douma was the last straw, bringing an end to one of the longest and most brutal sieges in modern history. But the cost was staggering: thousands of lives lost, entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble, and a generation of children robbed of their innocence.
Conclusion: A Legacy of Destruction
The siege of Eastern Ghouta was a horrifying chapter in the Syrian Civil War, one that left deep scars on its residents and on the global conscience. The use of chemical weapons
, starvation, and relentless bombardment were not just military tactics—they were tools of terror and repression. The international community’s failure to intervene and prevent these atrocities has left many wondering whether the world can truly prevent such crimes in the future.
For the survivors of Eastern Ghouta, the pain of the siege will never fully fade. As Anas Sagherjy so poignantly put it: “We want our children never to experience what we had to live through.” The story of Eastern Ghouta is a reminder of the human cost of war and the importance of holding perpetrators of war crimes accountable.
The road to healing will be long and difficult for those who lived through the siege. But the world must not forget the lessons of Ghouta, or the people who paid the ultimate price for their resistance to tyranny.
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