All of eastern Ghouta is underground.

That is how one aid worker described the situation as thousands of people fled into basements and makeshift shelters in the rebel-held suburb of Damascus this week.

Eastern Ghouta is under a brutal aerial assault by Syrian government forces that has left more than 200 people dead in recent days, including many children.

As the war on the outskirts of the capital reached a new level of intensity, families huddle underground. For hours on end, they wait out the bombing, which shows no signs of slowing.

The assault is the latest by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces on rebel-controlled areas in a seven-year civil war that has fractured the country.

In other cities and towns once held by rebel groups, like Aleppo and Daraya, the government has used a similar tactic of bombarding infrastructure and residential areas to force a surrender of fighters and the relocation of civilians. The Syrian government says that there are few civilians left in eastern Ghouta, and that those who remain are being held as human shields — an assertion disputed by international human rights groups and activists on the ground.

There are armed rebel groups active in the area, but Save the Children and the United Nations refugee agency estimate that some 350,000 civilians are caught up in the siege.

Footage from local activists shows women and children gathered in basements, playing and cooking to pass the time. Some share audio recordings of the planes and helicopters buzzing overhead, issuing desperate pleas on social media and WhatsApp.



In some parts of the sprawling suburb, the underground spaces are connected by tunnels. A local media activist, Firas Abdullah, filmed the scene as he made his way between the joined rooms on Wednesday.