59 killed in Syrian govt air strikes

In Syria, 59 civilians, including 15 children are reported to have been killed and 139 injured in a new wave of Syrian government air strikes on a besieged rebel enclave near Damascus.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, on the fourth day of attacks against a rebel-held region yesterday, warplanes pounded various parts of eastern Ghouta, a besieged pocket of satellite towns and farms near the Syrian capital of Damascus. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian army.

The death toll rose after the bombing of a market in the village of Arbin, where



air strikes killed 21, including nine children and three women, the monitor said.The International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria has expressed distress at the deteriorating security and humanitarian conditions in the area. 

It said in a tweet, that thousands are struggling to survive without aid, or a safe place from the line of fire in eastern Ghouta. The Syrian government has repeatedly said it only targets militants.

The United Nations called on Tuesday for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Syria of at least a month.