At least 23 civilians were killed on Monday as Syrian government airstrikes pounded a rebel-held enclave near the capital Damascus, a monitor said.

The region of Eastern Ghouta is home to an estimated 400,000 people living under government siege and facing escalating bombardment in recent weeks.

“Dozens of airstrikes hit several areas in Eastern Ghouta, killing 23 civilians including four children,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

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The deadliest raids hit a market in the town of Beit Sawa, killing nine civilians including two children.

Another six civilians, including a young girl, were killed in bombardment on the town of Hazzeh.

The remaining eight were killed in strikes across the rest of the besieged region, and more than 80 people were wounded, the Observatory said.

An AFP correspondent in Eastern Ghouta could hear warplanes above, circling around the town every few minutes.

Eastern Ghouta is supposed to be one of four de-escalation zones agreed last year, but violence has ramped up there in recent weeks.

This month alone, chlorine is suspected of having been used on two occasions in munitions launched by the regime on Eastern Ghouta, causing respiratory problems among civilians.

On Friday, Syrian regime bombardment killed at least 11 civilians.

The state news agency SANA said Monday that a woman was killed and three people wounded in rebel rocket fire from Eastern Ghouta onto the capital’s regime-controlled district of Bab Touma.

Syria’s war has killed more than 340,000 people and displaced millions since it began in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.</s>Nearly two dozen civilians have been killed just outside of Damascus in a Syrian government-led offensive targeting rebel-held areas, a war-monitor group said.

Air strikes on Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital, killed at least 23 people on Monday, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The Observatory said at least 70 people were also wounded in the attacks, which the group said were carried out by Syrian forces and their Russian allies.

Of those killed, at least nine civilians, including two children, were killed in an air raid on a market in the town of Beit Sawa, while another six civilians, including one child, were killed in the town of Hazzeh, AFP news agency reported.

Syrian state media also said shelling on the Old City of Damascus, which is held by the government, killed one woman and wounded three other civilians.

Eastern Ghouta is the last remaining rebel-held stronghold near Damascus and has been under a government siege since 2013.

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Human rights groups have struggled to access the area to provide an estimated 400,000 residents with much-needed food and medicine.

Local hospitals are running out of medical supplies and an acute food shortage has led to severe malnutrition.

Late last month, Syrian activists accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of violating a Russian-brokered ceasefire in the area.

The aerial bombardment of Eastern Ghouta came amid reports that at least 18 civilians were killed and dozens more were injured in a Syrian government bombardment on northern Idlib province, which is also held by rebel groups.

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria reported medical facilities were targeted in Idlib and the town of Hama.

Alarming news from #Syria. We’re receiving reports of multiple medical facilities targeted in #Hama and #Idleb. With the majority of hospitals no longer operating in these areas, these latest attacks will deprive tens of thousands of life-saving care.

#NotATarget — ICRC Syria (@ICRC_sy) February 5, 2018

"With the majority of hospitals no longer operating in these areas, these latest attacks will deprive tens of thousands of life-saving care," the ICRC said.

Both Eastern Ghouta and Idlib are among four so-called de-escalation zones in Syria, which were delineated last year as part of a ceasefire proposal meant to end hostilities between rebel and government forces.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on developments in Syria (all times local):

Syrian activists and first responders say airstrikes on a besieged rebel-held area near Damascus have killed at least 55 people, updating an earlier toll.

Syrian government and allied Russian forces have been pounding the eastern Ghouta suburbs of the capital for two days.

First responders known as the White Helmets say 55 people were killed Tuesday, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 70.

Russia has waged a punishing aerial campaign against Syria's armed opposition since intervening in the civil war on the side of its ally, President Bashar Assad, in 2015.

Eastern Ghouta, home to about 400,000 people, is also reeling under a government siege that has prevented aid from getting in.

Syrian activists say airstrikes by Russian and Syrian government forces have killed at least 45 civilians in a besieged area just outside of Damascus.

Tuesday's onslaught came a day after a rash of airstrikes battered Syrian opposition areas, killing more than 28 people around the country and striking at hospitals and residential buildings in the northwestern Idlib province.

Russia has waged a punishing aerial campaign against Syria's armed opposition since intervening in the civil war on the side of its ally, President Bashar Assad, in 2015.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 towns in the eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus were bombed on Tuesday. The activist-run Ghouta Media Center said at least two, Douma and Harasta, was struck by ground-to-ground missiles.

The Observatory said 47 people had been killed, while the Civil Defense, first responders known as the White Helmets, put the death toll at 45.

Syria's state news agency says at least three people have been killed in shelling from rebel areas on parts of the old city of Damascus, the capital.

The SANA news agency reported the shelling Tuesday also left eight civilians injured. It blamed the attack targeting Bab Touma in the old city on armed groups in a region adjacent to the capital.

The Syrian government has kept up a relentless airstrike and shelling campaign against the rebel-held region, eastern Ghouta, for weeks. It has escalated its attacks in recent days, and activists reported that nearly 40 people were killed in the region Tuesday.

Eastern Ghouta, home to about 400,000 people, is also reeling under a siege that has prevented aid from getting in and medical evacuations.

Syrian rescuers and activists say the death toll from airstrikes and shelling by government and Russian forces of an opposition-held area near Damascus has climbed to at least 38.

Rescue workers are scrambling to keep up with the onslaught as artillery and airstrikes pound eastern Ghouta for a second straight day on Tuesday. The Syrian Civil Defense, known also as the White Helmets, recorded at least 38 killed in 8 towns in the area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 47 were killed in 10 towns, including 10 children. The tally is likely to rise as the attacks continue.

The Observatory says Tuesday's death toll is the highest in the last 45 days. Nearly 200 people have been wounded in the strikes.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the United Sates to withdraw its troops from the Syrian town of Manbij, renewing a threat to expand its military operation in Syria to the region that is held by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters.

Addressing legislators from his ruling party on Tuesday, Erdogan said Manbij was a predominantly Arab town and that Turkey would return the territory to its "real owners."

Turkey launched a cross-border offensive into the northwestern enclave of Afrin to drive out Syrian Kurdish militia and has also vowed to clear Manbij of the Kurdish fighters, which make up the backbone of a force that fought the Islamic State group in Syria. The United States has a military presence in Manbij.

Ties between Turkey and the United States are tense over the group which Turkey regards as a national security threat because of its links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.

"Why are you staying there (in Manbij)? Leave," Erdogan said. "We will come to return the lands to their real owners."

A Turkish official says U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to visit Turkey next week, amid growing tensions between the two NATO allies over Syria.

Turkey's military has launched a military offensive to drive Syrian Kurdish militia out of the enclave of Afrin and has threatened to extend its operation farther east into the region of Manbij, where the United States has a military presence.

That threat raises the possibility of a confrontation between the allies, who are already at odds over U.S. backing to Syrian Kurdish fighters. Turkey regards the group as terrorists, while the U.S. considers the group its strongest partner in the fight against State the Islamic group in Syria.

The official would not provide further details on the planned visit. He spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday, in line with government rules.

Turkish media reports said meanwhile that U.S. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster would also visit.

Syrian rescuers and activists say at least three people were killed, including a child, when rockets from a Kurdish enclave hit a camp for displaced people near the Turkish border.

The Syrian Civil Defense says the shelling in Atmeh wounded another 14 people, mostly women and children. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the shells were lobbed from the neighboring Afrin enclave, where Turkish troops are battling Syrian Kurdish fighters.

The Kurdish militia in control of the enclave has put up stiff resistance to the advancing Turkish forces, and has fired rockets at Turkish border towns.

Ahmed al-Hamoud, an activist who arrived in the area after the rockets landed, says the projectiles damaged tents and caused civilians to flee.

Russian officials say they have repatriated the body of a fighter pilot whose jet was shot down over a rebel-held area in northern Syria.

Roman Filipov, the pilot of the Su-25 jet, died after he engaged in a gun battle with militants on the ground and blew himself up with a hand grenade.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday its military intelligence, with the help of Turkey, has repatriated the pilot's body from Syria's Idlib province and that Filipov would be laid to rest in southern Russia on Thursday.

The Russian military said earlier on Tuesday that they had asked Turkey to help recover the debris of the plane in order to establish the type of weapons that were used to shoot down the jet.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of the Kurdish-controlled Syrian enclave under attack from Turkey to protest the offensive, now in its third week.

Rezan Hiddo, a local official, said hundreds of buses carrying Syrians from the country's northeast and some members of the Yazidi minority from Iraq reached Afrin early Tuesday.

He says they came to show support for Afrin and to protest what he said were Turkey's plans to change the demographics of the predominantly Kurdish enclave, replacing the local population with Arab and Islamist loyalists to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Hiddo says the protesters came from eastern Syria and passed through Syrian government-controlled areas where they were searched to ensure no armed people were among them.

Turkey launched its assault on Afrin on Jan.20. It says it wants to push the Kurdish militia in control of the enclave away from its borders. Ankara views the Syrian Kurdish fighters as terrorists because of their links to Kurdish insurgents fighting inside Turkey.

A U.N.-mandated investigator says his team is probing reports that bombs allegedly containing weaponized chlorine have been used on two recent occasions in Syria.

Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, says the commission has received multiple reports, which it is now investigating, of attacks in the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, and Douma, in the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus.

In a statement, Pinheiro expressed deep concern over the escalating violence in Idlib and Eastern Ghouta which has killed scores of people and struck at least three hospitals in the past few days.

Pinheiro says: "These reports are extremely troubling, and make a mockery of the so-called "de-escalation zones."

He described the government siege of eastern Ghouta and indiscriminate bombardment as "international crimes."

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says Turkey's ongoing offensive against the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin does not serve the interests of any country in the region.

The president's website on Tuesday quotes Rouhani as telling his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone conversation that the "tensions in northern Syria do not benefit anybody."

Rouhani says Iran hopes all regional countries would respect the "territorial integrity and sovereignty" of Syria. He also welcomed a new round of presidential-level talks between Iran, Russia and Turkey.

He says: "Like before, cooperation is necessary and should be continued and improved until the final victory of the Syrian people over terrorists."

Iran is a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Tehran acknowledges that its forces are in Syria, in an advisory role to the government.

Syrian opposition activists say at least 16 people have been killed in new airstrikes on the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, a day after Russian and Syrian government forces battered rebel areas across the country in sweeping air raids.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least five towns in the Eastern Ghouta region were hit by Russian or Syrian government airstrikes on Tuesday morning.

The Observatory says 16 people were killed while the activist-run Ghouta Media Center put the toll at 17 dead. Both groups say they expect the death toll to rise.

The airstrikes' campaign that started on Sunday night shows no signs of abating.

The Syrian Civil Defense search-and-rescue group, which works in opposition areas, says it is "another bloody day for civilians" in Eastern Ghouta.

The Russian military says it has asked Turkey to help recover the debris of the Russian fighter jet that was shot down over a rebel-controlled part of Syria over the weekend.

Al-Qaida-linked militants on Saturday said they downed the Russian Su-25 in the northern Idlib province. Russian officials say the pilot engaged in a gunbattle with militants before blowing himself up with a hand grenade.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday it has asked Turkey to help recover the debris in order to establish the type of weapons the rebels used to shoot down the jet.

The plane was downed by a portable air defense missile, the first time a Russian jet was shot down over Syria since Russia launched its air campaign there in September 2015.

The United Nations is calling for an immediate, monthlong cease-fire in Syria in order to deliver critical humanitarian aid and medical care to civilians trapped by fighting in regions across the country.

The U.N. mission in Syria warned in a statement on Tuesday of "dire consequences" to the compounded humanitarian crises in the country. It identified seven areas requiring urgent humanitarian relief. It says it's blocked from reaching them due to fighting and forces manning the front lines.

Syria's multi-sided war has drawn in armies and insurgents from around the world, aggravating a conflict which began as an uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule.

Though Assad appears to have survived the insurgency, his forces continue to bomb and besiege opposition pockets around the country.

Meanwhile, Turkish operations against Syrian Kurdish forces and U.S. and Russian-backed operations against the Islamic State group have compounded the suffering of Syrians in the country's north and east.

The U.N. says it has a plan to reach 700,000 people with relief in the next two months, if it can get the permission to proceed.

A Syrian search-and-rescue group says at least three people have been killed in new airstrikes on the rebel-held province of Idlib, a day after Russian and Syrian government forces battered rebel areas across the country with sweeping air raids.

The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, says Tuesday's airstrikes targeted the village of Termala in Idlib, the largest rebel stronghold in Syria. The White Helmets says three people died while the Britain-based Syria Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at five.

Intensified airstrikes starting late Sunday and continuing through Monday killed at least 28 people in 24 hours, and damaged at least 2 hospitals in Idlib.

Violence has spiraled since government forces marched into the province in December to retake a key air base they lost control of in 2015. The operation has displaced at least 200,000 people, according to the United Nations. The province is home to about 2.5 million people, with 1 million of them displaced by fighting in other areas.

Turkey's military says a Turkish soldier was killed in an attack in Syria's Idlib province where the Turkish troops are establishing an observation post.

The military says the soldier was killed late Monday by a mortar-and-rocket attack. Five Turkish soldiers and a civilian military contractor were wounded.

Turkey began deploying forces in an observer role to the rebel-held Idlib in northwestern Syria in October as part of a "de-escalation" agreement with Iran and Russia to stabilize the lines of conflict in the war-torn country.

That deployment is separate from a Turkish military offensive that Ankara launched last month to rout U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters from the northern enclave of Afrin.

Syrian government forces are on the offensive in Idlib, where militants shot down a Russian Su-25 over the weekend.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>BEIRUT, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The United Nations called on Tuesday for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Syria of at least one month as heavy air strikes were reported to have killed at least 30 people in rebel-held areas near Damascus and in the northwest.

Separately, U.N. war crimes experts said in Geneva that they were investigating multiple reports of bombs allegedly containing banned chlorine being used against civilians in the rebel-held towns of Saraqeb in the northwestern province of Idlib and Douma in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.

In a statement, Paulo Pinheiro, head of the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said an ongoing Syrian government siege of Eastern Ghouta "involve(s) the international crimes of indiscriminate bombardment and deliberate starvation of the civilian population".

Reports of air strikes hitting at least three hospitals in the past 48 hours "make a mockery of so-called "de-escalation zones", Pinheiro said, referring to a Russian-led truce deal for rebel-held territory that has failed to stop fighting there.

The latest air strikes killed 25 people in the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, a day after bombardments of the same pocket killed 30 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Air strikes in rebel-held Idlib killed six.

U.N. envoys called for a cessation of hostilities to enable humanitarian aid deliveries, and the evacuation of the sick and wounded, listing seven areas of concern including northern Syria's Kurdish-led Afrin region being targeted by a Turkish offensive.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, helped by Iran-backed militias and the Russian air force, is pursuing military campaigns against insurgents in the last major redoubts of territory held by his opponents in western Syria.

There were air strikes on towns across the Eastern Ghouta, including Douma where an entire building was brought down, a local witness said. In Idlib, where government forces and their allies are also on the offensive, at least five people were killed in the village of Tarmala, the Observatory said.

"Today there is no safe area at all. This is a key point people should know: there is no safe space," Siraj Mahmoud, the head of the Civil Defence rescue service in opposition-held rural Damascus, told Reuters.

"Right now we have people under rubble, the targeting is ongoing, warplanes on residential neighbourhoods," he said.

In a statement, the U.N. representatives noted that humanitarian needs were rising in Eastern Ghouta, where people had not received inter-agency assistance since late November.

"Meanwhile, fighting and retaliatory shelling from all parties are impacting civilians in this region and Damascus, causing scores of deaths and injuries," said their statement, released before the latest casualty tolls emerged on Tuesday.

"In Idlib, the military operations resulted in increased casualties and movement of civilians to safer areas. Some of them have been forced to move several times to escape fighting," they said, noting that two pro-government villages in Idlib also continued to be besieged by rebels.

Syria's protracted civil war, which spiralled out of street protests against Assad's rule in 2011, will soon enter its eighth year, having killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to leave the country as refugees.

Neighbouring Turkey's offensive in Afrin against the Kurdish YPG militia, which began last month, has further complicated the multi-sided conflict.

The YPG has been an important U.S. ally in the war against Islamic State militants, but Ankara sees it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and Washington.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan ramped up his verbal assault on the U.S. role in Syria on Tuesday, saying U.S. forces should leave Manbij, a Syrian city held by YPG-allied forces with support from the U.S.-led coalition.

He said the United States was working against the interests of Turkey, Iran and maybe Russia in northern Syria.

"If the United States says they are sending 5,000 trucks and 2,000 cargo planes of weapons for the fight against Daesh (Islamic State), we don't believe this," Erdogan told members of his AK Party in parliament.

"It means you have calculations against Turkey and Iran, and maybe Russia," he said, repeating a call for U.S. troops to withdraw from Manbij.

In agreement with Iran and Russia, the Turkish military is setting up observation posts in parts of Idlib and Aleppo province. But tensions have flared as Turkish forces moved to set up one such observation position south of Aleppo.

The Turkish military said a rocket and mortar attack by militants killed one Turkish soldier while the observation post was being set up on Monday.

It was the second attack in a week on Turkish soldiers trying to establish the position near the front line between rebels and pro-Syrian government forces.

In an apparent warning to Ankara, a commander in the military alliance supporting Assad said the Syrian army had deployed new air defences and anti-aircraft missiles to front lines with rebels in the Aleppo and Idlib areas.

"They cover the air space of the Syrian north," the commander told Reuters. That would include the Afrin area where Turkish warplanes have been supporting the ground offensive by the Turkish army and allied Free Syrian Army factions.

Turkey, which supported rebel fighters trying to overthrow Assad, has worked with Assad's main international backers Russia and Iran in recent months to try to wind down the conflict in Syria. But all three countries remain deeply involved in the fighting, and stark divisions persist.

Iran urged Turkey on Monday to stop its two-week-old military offensive against the Kurdish YPG in northern Syria's Afrin region, which abuts Idlib. (Reporting Tom Perry and Lisa Barrington in Beirut, Daren Butler and Orhan Coskun in Istanbul, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; writing by Tom Perry; editing by Mark Heinrich)</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on developments in Syria (all times local):

Syria's state news agency says at least three people have been killed in shelling from rebel areas on parts of the old city of Damascus, the capital.

The SANA news agency reported the shelling Tuesday also left eight civilians injured. It blamed the attack targeting Bab Touma in the old city on armed groups in a region adjacent to the capital.

The Syrian government has kept up a relentless airstrike and shelling campaign against the rebel-held region, eastern Ghouta, for weeks. It has escalated its attacks in recent days, and activists reported that nearly 40 people were killed in the region Tuesday.

Eastern Ghouta, home to about 400,000 people, is also reeling under a siege that has prevented aid from getting in and medical evacuations.

Syrian rescuers and activists say the death toll from airstrikes and shelling by government and Russian forces of an opposition-held area near Damascus has climbed to at least 38.

Rescue workers are scrambling to keep up with the onslaught as artillery and airstrikes pound eastern Ghouta for a second straight day on Tuesday. The Syrian Civil Defense, known also as the White Helmets, recorded at least 38 killed in 8 towns in the area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 47 were killed in 10 towns, including 10 children. The tally is likely to rise as the attacks continue.

The Observatory says Tuesday's death toll is the highest in the last 45 days. Nearly 200 people have been wounded in the strikes.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the United Sates to withdraw its troops from the Syrian town of Manbij, renewing a threat to expand its military operation in Syria to the region that is held by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters.

Addressing legislators from his ruling party on Tuesday, Erdogan said Manbij was a predominantly Arab town and that Turkey would return the territory to its "real owners."

Turkey launched a cross-border offensive into the northwestern enclave of Afrin to drive out Syrian Kurdish militia and has also vowed to clear Manbij of the Kurdish fighters, which make up the backbone of a force that fought the Islamic State group in Syria. The United States has a military presence in Manbij.

Ties between Turkey and the United States are tense over the group which Turkey regards as a national security threat because of its links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.

"Why are you staying there (in Manbij)? Leave," Erdogan said. "We will come to return the lands to their real owners."

A Turkish official says U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to visit Turkey next week, amid growing tensions between the two NATO allies over Syria.

Turkey's military has launched a military offensive to drive Syrian Kurdish militia out of the enclave of Afrin and has threatened to extend its operation farther east into the region of Manbij, where the United States has a military presence.

That threat raises the possibility of a confrontation between the allies, who are already at odds over U.S. backing to Syrian Kurdish fighters. Turkey regards the group as terrorists, while the U.S. considers the group its strongest partner in the fight against State the Islamic group in Syria.

The official would not provide further details on the planned visit. He spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday, in line with government rules.

Turkish media reports said meanwhile that U.S. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster would also visit.

Syrian rescuers and activists say at least three people were killed, including a child, when rockets from a Kurdish enclave hit a camp for displaced people near the Turkish border.

The Syrian Civil Defense says the shelling in Atmeh wounded another 14 people, mostly women and children. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the shells were lobbed from the neighboring Afrin enclave, where Turkish troops are battling Syrian Kurdish fighters.

The Kurdish militia in control of the enclave has put up stiff resistance to the advancing Turkish forces, and has fired rockets at Turkish border towns.

Ahmed al-Hamoud, an activist who arrived in the area after the rockets landed, says the projectiles damaged tents and caused civilians to flee.

Russian officials say they have repatriated the body of a fighter pilot whose jet was shot down over a rebel-held area in northern Syria.

Roman Filipov, the pilot of the Su-25 jet, died after he engaged in a gun battle with militants on the ground and blew himself up with a hand grenade.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday its military intelligence, with the help of Turkey, has repatriated the pilot's body from Syria's Idlib province and that Filipov would be laid to rest in southern Russia on Thursday.

The Russian military said earlier on Tuesday that they had asked Turkey to help recover the debris of the plane in order to establish the type of weapons that were used to shoot down the jet.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of the Kurdish-controlled Syrian enclave under attack from Turkey to protest the offensive, now in its third week.

Rezan Hiddo, a local official, said hundreds of buses carrying Syrians from the country's northeast and some members of the Yazidi minority from Iraq reached Afrin early Tuesday.

He says they came to show support for Afrin and to protest what he said were Turkey's plans to change the demographics of the predominantly Kurdish enclave, replacing the local population with Arab and Islamist loyalists to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Hiddo says the protesters came from eastern Syria and passed through Syrian government-controlled areas where they were searched to ensure no armed people were among them.

Turkey launched its assault on Afrin on Jan.20. It says it wants to push the Kurdish militia in control of the enclave away from its borders. Ankara views the Syrian Kurdish fighters as terrorists because of their links to Kurdish insurgents fighting inside Turkey.

A U.N.-mandated investigator says his team is probing reports that bombs allegedly containing weaponized chlorine have been used on two recent occasions in Syria.

Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, says the commission has received multiple reports, which it is now investigating, of attacks in the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, and Douma, in the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus.

In a statement, Pinheiro expressed deep concern over the escalating violence in Idlib and Eastern Ghouta which has killed scores of people and struck at least three hospitals in the past few days.

Pinheiro says: "These reports are extremely troubling, and make a mockery of the so-called "de-escalation zones."

He described the government siege of eastern Ghouta and indiscriminate bombardment as "international crimes."

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says Turkey's ongoing offensive against the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin does not serve the interests of any country in the region.

The president's website on Tuesday quotes Rouhani as telling his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone conversation that the "tensions in northern Syria do not benefit anybody."

Rouhani says Iran hopes all regional countries would respect the "territorial integrity and sovereignty" of Syria. He also welcomed a new round of presidential-level talks between Iran, Russia and Turkey.

He says: "Like before, cooperation is necessary and should be continued and improved until the final victory of the Syrian people over terrorists."

Iran is a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Tehran acknowledges that its forces are in Syria, in an advisory role to the government.

Syrian opposition activists say at least 16 people have been killed in new airstrikes on the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, a day after Russian and Syrian government forces battered rebel areas across the country in sweeping air raids.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least five towns in the Eastern Ghouta region were hit by Russian or Syrian government airstrikes on Tuesday morning.

The Observatory says 16 people were killed while the activist-run Ghouta Media Center put the toll at 17 dead. Both groups say they expect the death toll to rise.

The airstrikes' campaign that started on Sunday night shows no signs of abating.

The Syrian Civil Defense search-and-rescue group, which works in opposition areas, says it is "another bloody day for civilians" in Eastern Ghouta.

The Russian military says it has asked Turkey to help recover the debris of the Russian fighter jet that was shot down over a rebel-controlled part of Syria over the weekend.

Al-Qaida-linked militants on Saturday said they downed the Russian Su-25 in the northern Idlib province. Russian officials say the pilot engaged in a gunbattle with militants before blowing himself up with a hand grenade.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday it has asked Turkey to help recover the debris in order to establish the type of weapons the rebels used to shoot down the jet.

The plane was downed by a portable air defense missile, the first time a Russian jet was shot down over Syria since Russia launched its air campaign there in September 2015.

The United Nations is calling for an immediate, monthlong cease-fire in Syria in order to deliver critical humanitarian aid and medical care to civilians trapped by fighting in regions across the country.

The U.N. mission in Syria warned in a statement on Tuesday of "dire consequences" to the compounded humanitarian crises in the country. It identified seven areas requiring urgent humanitarian relief. It says it's blocked from reaching them due to fighting and forces manning the front lines.

Syria's multi-sided war has drawn in armies and insurgents from around the world, aggravating a conflict which began as an uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule.

Though Assad appears to have survived the insurgency, his forces continue to bomb and besiege opposition pockets around the country.

Meanwhile, Turkish operations against Syrian Kurdish forces and U.S. and Russian-backed operations against the Islamic State group have compounded the suffering of Syrians in the country's north and east.

The U.N. says it has a plan to reach 700,000 people with relief in the next two months, if it can get the permission to proceed.

A Syrian search-and-rescue group says at least three people have been killed in new airstrikes on the rebel-held province of Idlib, a day after Russian and Syrian government forces battered rebel areas across the country with sweeping air raids.

The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, says Tuesday's airstrikes targeted the village of Termala in Idlib, the largest rebel stronghold in Syria. The White Helmets says three people died while the Britain-based Syria Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at five.

Intensified airstrikes starting late Sunday and continuing through Monday killed at least 28 people in 24 hours, and damaged at least 2 hospitals in Idlib.

Violence has spiraled since government forces marched into the province in December to retake a key air base they lost control of in 2015. The operation has displaced at least 200,000 people, according to the United Nations. The province is home to about 2.5 million people, with 1 million of them displaced by fighting in other areas.

Turkey's military says a Turkish soldier was killed in an attack in Syria's Idlib province where the Turkish troops are establishing an observation post.

The military says the soldier was killed late Monday by a mortar-and-rocket attack. Five Turkish soldiers and a civilian military contractor were wounded.

Turkey began deploying forces in an observer role to the rebel-held Idlib in northwestern Syria in October as part of a "de-escalation" agreement with Iran and Russia to stabilize the lines of conflict in the war-torn country.

That deployment is separate from a Turkish military offensive that Ankara launched last month to rout U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters from the northern enclave of Afrin.

Syrian government forces are on the offensive in Idlib, where militants shot down a Russian Su-25 over the weekend.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on developments in Syria (all times local):

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of the Kurdish-controlled Syrian enclave under attack from Turkey to protest the offensive, now in its third week.

Rezan Hiddo, a local official, said hundreds of buses carrying Syrians from the country's northeast and some members of the Yazidi minority from Iraq reached Afrin early Tuesday.

He says they came to show support for Afrin and to protest what he said were Turkey's plans to change the demographics of the predominantly Kurdish enclave, replacing the local population with Arab and Islamist loyalists to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Hiddo says the protesters came from eastern Syria and passed through Syrian government-controlled areas where they were searched to ensure no armed people were among them.

Turkey launched its assault on Afrin on Jan.20. It says it wants to push the Kurdish militia in control of the enclave away from its borders. Ankara views the Syrian Kurdish fighters as terrorists because of their links to Kurdish insurgents fighting inside Turkey.

A U.N.-mandated investigator says his team is probing reports that bombs allegedly containing weaponized chlorine have been used on two recent occasions in Syria.

Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, says the commission has received multiple reports, which it is now investigating, of attacks in the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, and Douma, in the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus.

In a statement, Pinheiro expressed deep concern over the escalating violence in Idlib and Eastern Ghouta which has killed scores of people and struck at least three hospitals in the past few days.

Pinheiro says: "These reports are extremely troubling, and make a mockery of the so-called "de-escalation zones."

He described the government siege of eastern Ghouta and indiscriminate bombardment as "international crimes."

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says Turkey's ongoing offensive against the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin does not serve the interests of any country in the region.

The president's website on Tuesday quotes Rouhani as telling his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone conversation that the "tensions in northern Syria do not benefit anybody."

Rouhani says Iran hopes all regional countries would respect the "territorial integrity and sovereignty" of Syria. He also welcomed a new round of presidential-level talks between Iran, Russia and Turkey.

He says: "Like before, cooperation is necessary and should be continued and improved until the final victory of the Syrian people over terrorists."

Iran is a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Tehran acknowledges that its forces are in Syria, in an advisory role to the government.

Syrian opposition activists say at least 16 people have been killed in new airstrikes on the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, a day after Russian and Syrian government forces battered rebel areas across the country in sweeping air raids.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least five towns in the Eastern Ghouta region were hit by Russian or Syrian government airstrikes on Tuesday morning.

The Observatory says 16 people were killed while the activist-run Ghouta Media Center put the toll at 17 dead. Both groups say they expect the death toll to rise.

The airstrikes' campaign that started on Sunday night shows no signs of abating.

The Syrian Civil Defense search-and-rescue group, which works in opposition areas, says it is "another bloody day for civilians" in Eastern Ghouta.

The Russian military says it has asked Turkey to help recover the debris of the Russian fighter jet that was shot down over a rebel-controlled part of Syria over the weekend.

Al-Qaida-linked militants on Saturday said they downed the Russian Su-25 in the northern Idlib province. Russian officials say the pilot engaged in a gunbattle with militants before blowing himself up with a hand grenade.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday it has asked Turkey to help recover the debris in order to establish the type of weapons the rebels used to shoot down the jet.

The plane was downed by a portable air defense missile, the first time a Russian jet was shot down over Syria since Russia launched its air campaign there in September 2015.

The United Nations is calling for an immediate, monthlong cease-fire in Syria in order to deliver critical humanitarian aid and medical care to civilians trapped by fighting in regions across the country.

The U.N. mission in Syria warned in a statement on Tuesday of "dire consequences" to the compounded humanitarian crises in the country. It identified seven areas requiring urgent humanitarian relief. It says it's blocked from reaching them due to fighting and forces manning the front lines.

Syria's multi-sided war has drawn in armies and insurgents from around the world, aggravating a conflict which began as an uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule.

Though Assad appears to have survived the insurgency, his forces continue to bomb and besiege opposition pockets around the country.

Meanwhile, Turkish operations against Syrian Kurdish forces and U.S. and Russian-backed operations against the Islamic State group have compounded the suffering of Syrians in the country's north and east.

The U.N. says it has a plan to reach 700,000 people with relief in the next two months, if it can get the permission to proceed.

A Syrian search-and-rescue group says at least three people have been killed in new airstrikes on the rebel-held province of Idlib, a day after Russian and Syrian government forces battered rebel areas across the country with sweeping air raids.

The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, says Tuesday's airstrikes targeted the village of Termala in Idlib, the largest rebel stronghold in Syria. The White Helmets says three people died while the Britain-based Syria Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at five.

Intensified airstrikes starting late Sunday and continuing through Monday killed at least 28 people in 24 hours, and damaged at least 2 hospitals in Idlib.

Violence has spiraled since government forces marched into the province in December to retake a key air base they lost control of in 2015. The operation has displaced at least 200,000 people, according to the United Nations. The province is home to about 2.5 million people, with 1 million of them displaced by fighting in other areas.

Turkey's military says a Turkish soldier was killed in an attack in Syria's Idlib province where the Turkish troops are establishing an observation post.

The military says the soldier was killed late Monday by a mortar-and-rocket attack. Five Turkish soldiers and a civilian military contractor were wounded.

Turkey began deploying forces in an observer role to the rebel-held Idlib in northwestern Syria in October as part of a "de-escalation" agreement with Iran and Russia to stabilize the lines of conflict in the war-torn country.

That deployment is separate from a Turkish military offensive that Ankara launched last month to rout U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters from the northern enclave of Afrin.

Syrian government forces are on the offensive in Idlib, where militants shot down a Russian Su-25 over the weekend.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on developments in Syria (all times local):

Rebels under siege on the outskirts of Damascus are pounding the Syrian capital with rockets and mortar shells, a barrage that state media says has killed one person and wounded 13.

The SANA news agency said Monday that "armed groups" were firing into Damascus from the eastern Ghouta suburbs, one of the last remaining opposition-held pockets in the capital region.

Government forces pounded the suburbs with airstrikes on Monday. Syrian activists say at least 28 people have been killed.

The U.N. estimates 400,000 people are trapped under a government siege in eastern Ghouta. A top humanitarian official called the region the "epicenter of suffering" in Syria.

Turkey says it has detained 573 people for criticizing its offensive in northern Syria since the operation began earlier this month.

An Interior Ministry statement said Monday that 449 people have been detained so far for allegedly engaging in "terror propaganda" on social media, while a further 124 were detained for participating in protests against the military operation into the Syrian Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin.

Turkey launched its offensive on Jan. 20 to clear Afrin of Syrian Kurdish forces, whom Ankara views as terrorists because of their links to Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused opponents of the offensive of supporting terrorism, while authorities warned they would be prosecuted.

Those detained include several members of the Turkish Medical Association who warned against the operation's human costs. Erdogan accused the group of being "terrorist lovers."

A Russian news agency says two people have been killed and three wounded in shelling near two Russian aid distribution points in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

RIA Novosti said mortar shells landed near the offices of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch on Monday, killing two people inside and wounding three.

Russian volunteers were distributing aid collected by Russia's Muslim and Christian communities outside the building and at another location.

The Russian Orthodox Church said none of its staff were hurt.

Turkey's state-run news agency says a Turkish military convoy has been dispatched to establish an observation post in northwest Syria.

The Anadolu Agency says the convoy reached a rural area in the western countryside of the province of Aleppo to establish Turkey's fourth post in Syria's largest rebel stronghold.

Turkey began deploying forces in an observer role to northwestern Syria in October, as part of a "de-escalation" agreement with Iran and Russia to stabilize the lines of conflict in war-torn Syria.

The deployment comes amid heightened tensions between rebels and pro-government forces at their shared frontier, after the government retook a contested air base in January.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a convoy of dozens of armed vehicles crossed into rebel-held territory from Turkey early Monday.

A similar convoy was struck by a car bomb while transiting through rebel territory last Tuesday. It was not clear who was behind the attack, which killed a civilian who was part of the convoy.

Syrian activists say at least 23 civilians have been killed in intense government airstrikes on a rebel-held suburb near Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says waves of airstrikes hit at least five neighborhoods in the Eastern Ghouta suburb, the only remaining rebel stronghold near the capital, Damascus.

The activist-run Ghouta Media Center also reported that 23 were killed. The Observatory says at least 70 have been wounded and that the number of casualties is likely to climb as rescuers operations are underway.

Among those killed was a rescue worker from the first-responders team known as White Helmets. The two groups say he died on duty in Arbeen, one of the neighborhoods hit by the airstrikes.

An estimated 400,000 residents live in Eastern Ghouta, besieged by Syrian government forces. ___

Syrian activists say two hospitals have been hit amid a wave of airstrikes on opposition-held areas in the northwest province of Idlib, the largest remaining rebel stronghold in Syria.

The bombardment comes after rebels shot down a Russian fighter jet on Saturday.

The activist-run Edlib Media Center and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say one of the bombed hospitals was in the town of Kafranbel. They say it was hit on Monday morning.

Also, a spokesman for the Syrian American Medical Society says a hospitals it operates was struck three times on Sunday night.

The spokesman, Mohamad Katoub, says the hospital is in the town of Maaret al-Numan and is no longer operational.

A hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders was damaged in an airstrike last Tuesday.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>At least 23 civilians were killed on February 5 as Syrian government forces launched air strikes against the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta near the capital Damascus, a monitor said.

Four children were among those killed, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

The Observatory says at least 70 have been wounded.

The activist-run Ghouta Media Center also reported that 23 were killed.

An estimated 400,000 residents live in Eastern Ghouta, besieged by Syrian government forces.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP</s>BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say at least 23 civilians have been killed in intense government airstrikes on a rebel-held suburb near Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says waves of airstrikes hit at least five neighborhoods in the Eastern Ghouta suburb, the only remaining rebel stronghold near the capital, Damascus.

The activist-run Ghouta Media Center also reported that 23 were killed. The Observatory says at least 70 have been wounded and that the number of casualties is likely to climb as rescuers operations are underway.

Among those killed was a rescue worker from the first-responders team known as White Helmets.

The two groups say he died on duty in Arbeen, one of the neighborhoods hit by the airstrikes.

An estimated 400,000 residents live in Eastern Ghouta, besieged by Syrian government forces.

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• GET KRON4 NEWS ON YOUR AMAZON ALEXA DEVICE</s>Air strikes killed 23 people in Syria’s rebel-held eastern Ghouta district, just outside Damascus, a war monitor reported, and a woman was killed by shelling inside the government-held capital on Monday, state media said.

Warplanes struck the towns of Zamalka, Arbaeen, Hazza and Beitu Soua, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Syrian army of President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russian air power and Shi‘ite Muslim militias, has besieged eastern Ghouta, the largest remaining rebel bastion near Damascus, for years.

Shelling of the Old City of Damascus, which is held by the government and lies near the rebel enclave that includes eastern Ghouta, killed a woman and injured three other civilians, state news agency SANA reported.

International concern has been growing over the fate of eastern Ghouta as bombardment by the Syrian military and Russia has increased in recent months and as shortages of food and medicine have led to severe malnutrition.

Assad and his allies have gained momentum in the seven-year-old war, gaining territory, pushing rebels from most big cities, and forcing several pockets to surrender last year.
Syrian government airstrikes pound rebel-held Eastern Ghouta enclave near the capital Damascus, killing at least 23 civilians including four children.