Bombardment of rebel bastion near Damascus kills 31: monitor

At least 31 civilians are killed in heavy bombardment of a besieged Syrian rebel stronghold east of Damascus that also struck a school, a monitoring group says.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rockets fired by regime forces rained down on Douma, one of the largest towns in the opposition-held Eastern Ghouta region.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman says air strikes also hit Douma and the nearby towns of Saqba and Harasta, but it was unclear whether they were carried out by Syrian or Russian warplanes.

At least 28 civilians were killed in the bombing of Douma and Saqba, and another three civilians were left dead after the air strikes in Harasta.

— AFP