Syrian regime airstrikes kill 22 civilians near Damascus

Syrian regime airstrikes on a rebel-held region near Damascus killed at least 22 civilians on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The highest toll was in Douma, the largest town in the Eastern Ghouta region, where raids killed 16 civilians including at least one child and wounded 22, it said.

Five more civilians were killed in the town of Sabqa and one in the town of Harasta, both also in Eastern Ghouta, the Observatory said.

The Eastern Ghouta region is adjacent to the capital's eastern neighbourhood of Jobar, which is divided between regime and rebel control.

Last month, the armed opposition launched a surprise assault against regime forces from Jobar, but was repelled after a week of fighting.

Eastern Ghouta has been under a devastating government siege since 2012 which has trapped over 300,000 civilains, and is targeted regularly by airstrikes and artillery.

It is the last remaining opposition stronghold near Damascus, where a string of local "reconciliation deals" have seen villages and towns brought back under the control of President Bashar al-Assad's government.

The World Health Organization last week demanded immediate humanitarian access to the area, saying residents are in desperate need of medical attention.

“Time is running out for the people of East Ghouta. As health needs increase, available resources are being depleted day by day. Our main goal now is to provide access to lifesaving care for thousands of vulnerable men, women and children immediately,” said Elizabeth Hoff, WHO Representative in Syria.

All 3 public hospitals and 17 public health care centres in East Ghouta are nonfunctioning and inaccessible to the population, the WHO said in a statement.

The regime is fighting to push rebels out of five neighbourhoods in Damascus.

The rebels control almost all of Qabun and Tishreen in the northeast, as well as half of Jobar in the east.

They are also present in Barzeh in the north and Tadamun in the south, but the neighbourhoods are covered by a truce with the regime.

The Syrian conflict began when the Baath regime, in power since 1963 and led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded with military force to peaceful protests demanding democratic reforms during the Arab Spring wave of uprisings, triggering an armed rebellion fueled by mass defections from the Syrian army.

According to independent monitors, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in the war, mostly by the regime and its powerful allies, and millions have been displaced both inside and outside of Syria.

The brutal tactics pursued mainly by the regime, which have included the use of chemical weapons, sieges, mass executions and torture against civilians have led to war crimes investigations.