Syrian forces under President Bashar al-Assad are set to make the final push for victory in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, March 13. With other fronts in the ongoing Syrian crisis drawing to a close, Syrian army troops have converged on Eastern Ghouta, resulting in an intensification of the onslaught there.

Eastern Ghouta, one of the last major rebel-held areas left in Syria, has been under attack by Syrian and Russian forces since February 18, despite international calls for the cessation of the attacks and a UN Security Council-mandated ceasefire that officially went into place on February 24. Authorities estimate that roughly 1,400 civilians have been killed since the beginning of the operation, with over 800 of those deaths occurring after the official beginning of the UN’s 30-day ceasefire.

Although minor evacuations of wounded or sick civilians began on Tuesday, thousands more seriously injured remain trapped in the area, along with hundreds of thousands of other civilians. Planes continuously carry out bombing runs over the densely populated neighbourhoods as pro-government troops move closer to taking the area. Russian and Syrian forces claim that these bombings and other offensives are intended as counter-terror operations and that the civilian casualties are merely collateral damage. Experts, however, argue that the goal of these tactics is to erode opposition support, clearing the way for eventual government reclamation of territory.

The massive civilian causalities and onslaught in Eastern Ghouta have caused some to draw parallels between the current crisis and the siege of Aleppo in late 2016. Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city, was taken by government troops in December 2016, leading to mass civilian casualties from bombings, malnutrition, and targeted attacks. The world watched in real time as the city slowly fell to bombardment; now, a similar scenario is playing out in Eastern Ghouta. Some experts, however, fear that Eastern Ghouta could be even worse than Aleppo. As the Atlantic reported in late February, malnutrition rates in Eastern Ghouta are higher than were seen in Aleppo, as the region has been under a state of siege since 2013. Additionally, the intense bombardment by both Syrian and Russian forces, combined with the pro-government gains in the last several years, may push civilian casualties even higher as forces move to master the region.

With half of Eastern Ghouta already under the control of pro-government forces, it seems certain that is only a matter of time before the entire area is subdued. What is less certain, however, is how high the human cost will climb before the end of the assault. While the ceasefire initially raised hopes of civilian protection, the continued bombardment of the area despite its effectuation has led to fears that Eastern Ghouta will not just raise the spectre of Aleppo, but may surpass its horrors.