The United Nations (UN) children's fund on Tuesday expressed “outrage” over the killings of children in Syria by issuing a blank statement, adding in a footnote that “no words will do (them) justice”.

The statement came after a ferocious Syrian regime bombing campaign pounded the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta on Monday, killing 127 civilians, 39 of them children.

Read: The Syrian war through a child's eye

“No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones,” said Geert Cappelaere, Unicef regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Those words were followed by a blank page.

Unicef voiced its anger in a postscript at the end of the news release, entitled “The War ON Children in Syria. Reports of mass casualties among children in Eastern Ghouta and Damascus.”

“UNICEF is issuing this blank statement,” it said. “We no longer have the words to describe children's suffering and our outrage. Do those inflicting the suffering still have words to justify their barbaric acts?”

The UN on Monday had demanded an end to the targeting of civilians in Syria.

But on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said at least 50 civilians, including 13 children, were killed in the second day of air strikes on Eastern Ghouta.

Held by rebels since 2012, Eastern Ghouta is the last pocket of opposition-held territory around Damascus and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad appears to be preparing a ground assault to retake it.

Opinion

Editorial

Military convictions
Updated 22 Dec, 2024

Military convictions

Pakistan’s democracy, still finding its feet, cannot afford such compromises on core democratic values.
Need for talks
22 Dec, 2024

Need for talks

FOR a long time now, the country has been in the grip of relentless political uncertainty, featuring the...
Vulnerable vaccinators
22 Dec, 2024

Vulnerable vaccinators

THE campaign to eradicate polio from Pakistan cannot succeed unless the safety of vaccinators and security personnel...
Strange claim
Updated 21 Dec, 2024

Strange claim

In all likelihood, Pakistan and US will continue to be ‘frenemies'.
Media strangulation
Updated 21 Dec, 2024

Media strangulation

Administration must decide whether it wishes to be remembered as an enabler or an executioner of press freedom.
Israeli rampage
21 Dec, 2024

Israeli rampage

ALONG with the genocide in Gaza, Israel has embarked on a regional rampage, attacking Arab and Muslim states with...