Relentless toll on civilians rises in Syrian war

At least 68 civilians died in two separate clashes in Syria Friday, a day after the seventh anniversary of the start of the Syrian civil war. Syrian Kurdish forces said Turkish airstrikes and shelling in the Afrin region killed at least 20 civilians. Turkey considers the Kurdish militia a terror group affiliated with other Kurdish rebels who have staged attacks in Turkey. Redur Khalil, spokesman with the Syrian Democratic Forces, confirmed the civilian casualties and said at least 30 others sustained injuries during shelling in the Ashrafieh neighborhood in Afrin. Civilians in Afrin complained the clashes left them without water, bread, and electricity. Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN high commissioner for human rights, said the commission is receiving reports that Kurdish fighters are preventing civilians from leaving the area. In the besieged region of Eastern Ghouta outside the Syrian capital city of Damascus, at least 46 other people died. Syrian government troops and their allies targeted opposition fighters in that region. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the government used cluster bombs, napalm-like incendiary weapons, and conventional explosives. The Syrian American Medical Society confirmed it treated patients in the area for severe burns.