EAST GHOUTA, Syria — It is easy to drive around Damascus and remain blind to the horrors of the Syrian civil war. Much of the city remained unscathed and insulated from the brutal war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. Former President Bashar al Assad’s palace remains perched on the hills overlooking the former Sheraton hotel. Crowds mull the streets, patronize restaurants, and shop at the city’s malls. The police don new uniforms and beards, but, at least in the capital city, largely leave people alone.

From Assad’s palace perched on Mount Mezzeh, he could see East Ghouta, a sprawling suburb of multistory apartment buildings, and a slum which more than a million Sunni Arabs called home. In the early morning hours of Aug. 21, 2013, the Syrian regime fired between eight and 12 rockets into East Ghouta. The sarin gas killed about 1,400 people, but the terror drove tens of thousands more away. While the international community focuses on a single outrage, Assad’s assault on East Ghouta was a daily affair. Hospitals and human rights groups place the conventional death toll in the region more than an order of magnitude higher. Assad’s constant bombardment left the entire suburb in ruins.