Syrian forces launched rocket attacks into a Damascus suburb on Friday that resulted in 40 people dead and hundreds of others severely wounded. the attack occurred in the small town of Douma which is located about ten miles north of Damascus. Over a dozen rockets were fired into an open air marketplace.

The bombing began at 7AM local time and included both artillery and air attacks, reports The New York Times. Shoppers were immediately hit as they were buying food for breakfast before heading off to their morning prayers at the mosque. Many of the town’s former residents have already fled from the four year old civil war for Europe.

According to video captured at the scene, bodies lay bloodied and strewn everywhere and several fires had broken out. The marketplace has, for the most part, been completely destroyed. The Syrian forces who launched the attack are part of the coalition that seeks to keep Syrian president Assad in power.

Such bombing and air attacks have occurred almost daily over the past few months in many small towns. Many thousands of Syrians have left the country and have become part of the greatest mass movement of people since the end of World War Two. The refugee situation in Europe has reached a certain breaking point. International agencies are bracing for yet another round of evacuations out of Syria.

The violence has been noticeably more frequent and more destructive since the Russians have joined in the fray on the side of Assad and his forces. It has come to the point where there are very few Syrian citizens even left in these small towns. Most have been completely destroyed with no hope at all of rebuilding for the foreseeable future.

The four and a half year old civil war in Syrian has already killed over 250,000 people and has displaced more than ten million others. Many continue to pour in to Europe and Scandinavia but these countries are at the point where they simply can’t take in any more people.