{"id":944,"date":"2017-11-02T23:05:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T23:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=944"},"modified":"2017-11-02T23:05:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T23:05:00","slug":"syrian-children-flee-after-kindergarten-is-bombed-in-besieged-ghouta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2017\/11\/02\/syrian-children-flee-after-kindergarten-is-bombed-in-besieged-ghouta\/","title":{"rendered":"Syrian children flee after kindergarten is bombed in besieged Ghouta"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"media-primary\">\n<figure class=\"element element-atom element-atom--main-media element-atom--media\">\n<div class=\"u-responsive-ratio u-responsive-ratio--hd youtube-media-atom\">\n<div class=\"vjs-big-play-button youtube-media-atom__overlay\"><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"caption caption--img caption--main\">\u00a0Children flee after kindergarten shelled in Syria \u2013 video<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content__meta-container js-content-meta js-football-meta u-cf\n\n    \"><\/p>\n<div class=\"meta__extras \">\n<div class=\"meta__social\">\n<ul class=\"social social--top js-social--top u-unstyled u-cf\">\n<li class=\"social__item social__item--facebook \"><\/li>\n<li class=\"social__item social__item--twitter \"><\/li>\n<li class=\"social__item social__item--email \"><\/li>\n<li class=\"js-social__secondary social__item social__item--more js-social__item--more\"><button class=\"meta-button social-tray__button\"><span class=\"u-h\">View more sharing options<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"meta__numbers\">\n<div class=\"meta__number js-sharecount\" title=\"Facebook: 1105\">\n<h3 class=\"sharecount__heading\"><span class=\"sharecount__text u-h\">Shares<\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"sharecount__value sharecount__value--full\">1,105<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"u-h meta__number\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\"><a class=\"tone-colour\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/profile\/kareem-shaheen\" rel=\"author\">Kareem Shaheen<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"content__dateline\">Monday 30 October 2017\u00a0<span class=\"content__dateline-time\">12.11\u00a0EDT<\/span>Last modified on Monday 30 October 2017\u00a0<span class=\"content__dateline-time\">12.49\u00a0EDT<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content__article-body from-content-api js-article__body\">\n<p>Dozens of Syrian children were forced to flee a kindergarten on Sunday after it was allegedly bombed by government forces, highlighting the suffering of civilians in areas besieged by forces loyal to President\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/bashar-al-assad\">Bashar al-Assad<\/a>\u00a0and the rampant abuses in the six-year civil war.<\/p>\n<p>Video footage shows crying and panicked children fleeing the site of the attack on Sunday, as adults usher them on to go and hide as the adults made their way towards the scene of the attack.<\/p>\n<p>The video was authenticated by the Associated Press and was released by activists of the Ghouta Media Centre, an organisation covering the war in Ghouta region near Damascus. The footage was shot in the town of Kfar Batna.<\/p>\n<p>Activists said several civilians were injured in the attack, but there were no immediate reports of fatalities. Residents said schools had been closed on Monday to protect the children against further attacks.<\/p>\n<p>Ghouta, once the breadbasket of the Syrian capital, has been under siege for years by the Assad regime, and is under rebel control. East Ghouta was supposed to be part of a \u201cde-escalation zone\u201d under a deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran to reduce violence in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the siege has tightened in the aftermath of a government offensive this year. The suffering of civilians in Ghouta was brought into sharp focus last week with images of a starving one-month-old baby, Sahar Dofdaa, who later died of malnutrition.<\/p>\n<p>Doctors are warning that shortages of food and baby milk, which has been caused by the government\u2019s siege as well as predatory pricing by local merchants, have led to a rise in cases of malnutrition, particularly among children.<\/p>\n<p>The UN estimates that 350,000 besieged civilians are living in east Ghouta. Last week, Zeid Ra\u2019ad al-Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, described the crisis as a humanitarian emergency and an outrage.<\/p>\n<p>Supplies for 40,000 people were allowed into the towns of Kfar Batna and Saqba on Monday for the first time in weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The latest video highlighted the continuing plight of Syria\u2019s children, who have suffered greatly in the course of the war. They have been killed by bombs, starved by sieges and deprived of an education.<\/p>\n<p>Unicef estimates that 5.8 million children in\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/syria\">Syria<\/a>\u00a0are in need, with more than 2 million under siege or in hard to reach areas. Attacks on hospitals and schools have been commonplace, and aid organisations are unable to reach all children who need to be vaccinated against polio.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0Children flee after kindergarten shelled in Syria \u2013 video View more sharing options Shares 1,105 Kareem Shaheen Monday 30 October 2017\u00a012.11\u00a0EDTLast modified on Monday 30 October 2017\u00a012.49\u00a0EDT Dozens of Syrian children were forced to flee a kindergarten on Sunday after it was allegedly bombed by government forces, highlighting the suffering of civilians in areas besieged by forces loyal to President\u00a0Bashar&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2017\/11\/02\/syrian-children-flee-after-kindergarten-is-bombed-in-besieged-ghouta\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":945,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions\/945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}