Syrian forces are poised to enter two contested enclaves, Afrin – where Kurdish militiamen are battling the Turkish army and its Syrian surrogates – and Eastern Ghouta, next to Damascus, where jihadis continue to fight the army.

Isolated and besieged by government troops, Eastern Ghouta is of key interest to humanitarian organisations seeking to aid trapped civilians.

The Syrian army has mobilised for a ground offensive against the enclave, adjacent to Damascus’s Old City. Residents on both fronts have braced themselves for the assault.

At least 250 people have been killed by artillery fire and aerial bombardment this month as the Syrian military, supported by Russian air cover, has “softened up” enclave defenders ahead of the operation, while 20 civilians have been killed and dozens wounded in the Old City from retaliatory mortars and rockets.

An estimated 350,000-400,000 people live in Eastern Ghouta, including 1,000 in urgent need of medical treatment. Last week an aid convoy of nine lorries reached the enclave, the first since November, carrying urgently needed supplies for 7,200 people.

Due to soaring food prices, impoverished families have been subsisting on one meal a day since the army tightened its siege last November. UN officials say malnutrition is rife, although Eastern Ghouta was once the capital’s market garden.

Calls for a 30-day countrywide ceasefire for medical evacuations and food deliveries has been ignored by the government, which is using the siege to end armed resistance.

Last year Eastern Ghouta was proclaimed a “de-confliction” or ceasefire zone by Russia, Iran and Turkey, but several armed groups refused to halt hostilities, besieged an army base, infiltrated suicide bombers into central Damascus, blocked the main highway between Damascus and Homs and fired missiles into the capital.

Eastern Ghouta’s towns, villages and countryside fell under control of rebel fighters in 2013 and are now the last Damascus-area redoubt of fundamentalist fighters from Faylaq al-Rahman (Legion of Rahman) and Saudi-sponsored Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam).

Elements of al-Qaeda offshoot Hay’at Tahrir of Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) have reportedly negotiated with the government for evacuation to northwestern Idlib province.

Since anti-government and fundamentalist fighters occupying Damascus suburbs have reached such agreements and been transported to Idlib, the government’s objective is to exert military pressure on Eastern Ghouta’s holdouts to follow their example.

Meanwhile, Turkey, the US and the Syrian government, with its allies Russia and Iran, are involved in Afrin, risking clashes and raising hopes of political deals.

Syrian state media reported on Monday that pro-government “popular” forces would deploy in the northwestern Kurdish Afrin enclave “within hours” to support the “steadfastness of [its people] in the face of aggression carried out by the forces of the Turkish regime”.

Turkey is seeking to oust Kurdish fighters from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Ankara regards as an extension of the Turkish Kurdish separatist movement.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu declared Syrian forces could enter Afrin to assume control, but not to protect Kurdish fighters. However, a Kurdish official said government forces would bolster Kurdish defenders of the enclave.

Syria’s allies, Russia and Iran, appear to have approved the Afrin move on the dangerous chessboard of northern Syria, in spite of Turkish threats.

If clashes are averted, the arrival in Afrin of pro-regime paramilitaries could promote co-operation between Damascus and the SDF, which has allied with the US against the Islamic State terror group, but not joined the anti-government opposition.

The Kurds have proposed the return of the 25 per cent of Syria’s territory they hold to government rule under a federal system. Redeployment of the Syrian army along the Syrian-Turkish border could ease Ankara’s concerns about an armed Kurdish presence there and exert pressure on the US, also regarded as an aggressor by Damascus, to withdraw its 2,000 troops from SDF-held areas.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

A top Syrian opposition official has accused the government of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in rebel-held suburbs of the capital Damascus calling on the international community to react.

Nasr al-Hariri, who heads the committee that represents the Syrian opposition in U.N. talks with the government in Geneva, told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday that the opposition is committed to a political solution but "we are studying all the options." He was asked whether they will withdraw from the talks

Al-Hariri said the government bombardment of Damascus' eastern suburbs, also known as eastern Ghouta, are a "flagrant defiance of international law." He added that the U.N. Security Council should take "decisive decisions."

Earlier on Tuesday, al-Hariri told the Pan Arab Al-Arabiya TV that the opposition is ready for negotiation for the withdrawal of al-Qaida-linked fighters from Ghouta if this would end the violence.

Al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee has presence in eastern Ghouta although it is not the most powerful group in the area.

A spokesman for the main Syrian Kurdish militia says government forces have started entering the northern enclave of Afrin to deploy along the border with Turkey and help defend it against advancing Turkish troops.

Tuesday's comments by Nouri Mahmoud, spokesman for the People's Protection Units, or YPG, came nearly an hour after pro-government Syrian fighters began entering the Afrin region from the nearby government-held village of Nubul.

Shortly after the fighters entered, Turkish troops started shelling the area forcing journalists to flee according to Syrian state TV.

He said the YPG had invited the government to enter the region to participate in defending Afrin and the border against Turkey's "unjust invasion."

Mahmoud added in a statement that the Syrian government sent some fighters starting Tuesday.

The U.N. envoy for Syria is decrying a recent upsurge in violence, expressing concerns that the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus could fall victim to widespread bloodshed like that in northern Aleppo more than a year ago.

Staffan de Mistura says world powers are not doing enough to halt the fighting over the rebel-held enclave east of the capital that is besieged by government forces.

He faulted President Bashar Assad's government, which is backed by Russia and Iran, for "obviously unleashing a lot of fire" recently.

De Mistura told reporters in his office in Geneva that "we are looking in front of us at an increasing tragedy" and decried "increasing incremental militarization of the conflict in eastern Ghouta."

"Bottom line: if we have learned something from Aleppo, (it's) time to actually avoid all this."

He pointed to "a lot of shelling on Damascus as well" recently, before adding, in remarks directed at the government and its allies: "The only difference is that one group has got better weapons. That's the only difference."

Syrian state TV is reporting that Turkish troops are shelling the entrance of the northern Kurdish enclave of Afrin shortly after scores of pro-government fighters entered the area.

The TV showed shells falling in an area where journalists gathered Tuesday forcing some of them to flee the area.

Minutes before the shelling, about 20 vehicles with heavy machine guns mounted on them were seen entering the area as part of an agreement between the government and the main Kurdish militia in Syria known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG.

Turkey has threatened Syrian troops not to help YPG fighters, warning that it will fight its backers.

Ankara considers the YPG a "terrorist group" linked to the Kurdish insurgency within Turkey's borders. On Jan. 20, it launched a major air and ground offensive, pounding the enclave with airstrikes and artillery on a daily basis.

Pro-government Syrian fighters have started entering the northern Kurdish enclave of Afrin where Turkish troops have been on the offensive for a month.

Syrian state TV showed about 20 vehicles with heavy machine guns mounted on them entering Afrin from the nearby village of Nubul.

Scores of gunmen were on the vehicles waving Syrian flags and chanting pro-government slogans.

There was no immediate comment about the deployment from Kurdish officials.

Tuesday's deployment came a day after Turkey warned the Syrian government against entering the Kurdish-controlled enclave where a major Turkish military offensive is underway, saying it would hit back at the troops if their goal is to protect the Kurdish fighters.

The deployment came hours after Turkish media reported that Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition forces have linked a swathe of land in the Afrin enclave to the Turkish-held Syrian city of Azaz.

Turkish media reports say Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition forces have linked a swathe of land in the Afrin enclave to the Turkish-held Syrian city of Azaz.

The private Dogan news agency said the advancing forces, which are battling a Syrian Kurdish militia, took control of a key road linking the two areas in northern Syria, along the border. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the conflict, confirmed the report.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said nine villages were captured on Tuesday, including four in the north of Afrin.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier that the Turkish forces would soon besiege Afrin's city center.

Turkey launched its offensive into Afrin on Jan. 20 to clear it of Syrian Kurdish fighters. It views the Kurdish fighters as terrorists because of their links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.

Russia's Foreign Ministry says several dozen fighters hailing from Russia and former Soviet republics have been injured in Syria and flown to Russia for treatment.

The ministry's statement does not say where in Syria the fighters were injured but that it happened in "recent fighting." It comes amid mounting indications that Russian private contractors in Syria were part of pro-government forces that suffered heavy losses in a U.S. counterattack in the Deir el-Zour province on Feb. 7.

The Associated Press last week interviewed the mother of one of the killed mercenaries as well as families of the active Russian contractors.

Following its acknowledgement last week that five Russians had been killed by the U.S. strike in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry insisted Tuesday that the men were not on military duty and that the Russian military did not provide them any assistance.

A top Syrian opposition figure says government forces along with Iran and Russia are committing a new "Holocaust" in rebel-held suburbs of the capital Damascus.

Mohammed Alloush of the Army of Islam told The Associated Press Tuesday that the United Nations is also to blame "because of its bankruptcy and lies about protecting security and peace in the world."

Alloush's comments came after opposition activists and paramedics said that more than 100 people have been killed since Monday in the worst daily death toll in the eastern suburbs, also known as eastern Ghouta, in three years.

Alloush, whose militant group is the strongest in eastern Ghouta, described the government and its backers Russia and Iran as a "Satanic alliance" that is "unprecedented since World War II."

Alloush added that "a new Holocaust is being committed by the dirtiest regime on earth."

Turkey's president says Turkish troops involved in an offensive to drive out Syrian Kurdish militiamen from a Syrian enclave will soon begin a siege of the city of Afrin.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his ruling party's legislators on Tuesday that the month-long offensive into the northwester enclave of Afrin has so far been progressing slowly.

He says Turkey is not there "to burn and destroy" the enclave but to ensure it becomes a "safe and livable place."

Erdogan said that, however, "in the coming days, the siege of Afrin city center will commence at a more rapid pace."

Turkey launched its offensive to clear Afrin of the Syrian Kurdish militia it considers a "terrorist" organization and an extension to its own outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting within Turkey.

Turkish troops have so far seized border regions encircling Afrin, including strategic hills.

The U.N. children's agency has issued a statement of protest against the killing of scores of people, including children, in the Syrian government bombardment of rebel-held suburbs of Damascus.

UNICEF's one-page statement released on Tuesday carries a headline, saying: "Do those inflicting the suffering still have words to justify their barbaric acts?"

The headline is followed by blank space underneath.

UNICEF said it issued this blank statement because "we no longer have the words to describe children's suffering and our outrage."

Syrian opposition activists and paramedics said airstrikes and shelling of Damascus' eastern suburbs known as eastern Ghouta killed at least 98 people, including 20 children, on Monday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the daily death toll is the highest in the area since 2015.

Residents of the Syrian capital and the state-run news agency say shells from besieged rebel-held suburbs are raining down on Damascus.

SANA says Tuesday's shelling killed one person and wounded at least six people. It comes amid a major government offensive on the region known as eastern Ghouta.

The Syrian Civil Defense affiliated with the opposition said the shelling and airstrikes killed 98 on Monday, adding that some people were still under the rubble.

A resident of Damascus hiding in the corridor of an office building described the shelling as one of the worst in months. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for security concerns.

The shelling targeted the districts of Old Damascus, Bab Touma, Abu Rummaneh and others.

A Syrian monitoring group and paramedics say government shelling and airstrikes on rebel-held suburbs of the capital, Damascus, killed at least 98 people on Monday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it was the deadliest day in three years in the area known as eastern Ghouta.

The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, said the shelling and airstrikes killed 98 and that some people are still under the rubble.

The Observatory says 20 children and 15 women were among those killed on Monday.

The targeted suburbs have been subjected to weeks-long bombardment that has killed and wounded hundreds of people.

Opposition activists say government forces have brought in reinforcements in preparation for a wider offensive on the area — the last main rebel stronghold near Damascus.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Pro-government forces pounded Syria's eastern Ghouta on Tuesday, killing at least 66 people after the enclave's heaviest one-day death toll in three years, a monitoring group said.

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Sparking an international outcry, the surge in air strikes, rocket fire and shelling has killed more than 210 adults and children in the rebel pocket near Damascus since late on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.



France described the government bombing as a serious violation of international humanitarian law.



There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military. Damascus says it only targets militants.



Recent violence in the besieged suburb is part of a wider surge in fighting on several fronts as President Bashar al-Assad's military pushes to end the seven-year rebellion against him.



Panos Moumtzis, the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for Syria, on Tuesday condemned the bombing of five hospitals in eastern Ghouta and said intentional attacks on medical facilities "may amount to war crimes".



In Brussels, Syrian opposition leader Nasr al-Hariri - a delegation head at stalled U.N. peace talks - told the European Union the intensified attacks constituted a "war crime", and pleaded for more international pressure on Assad to stop.



In Geneva, the U.N. children's agency expressed outrage at the casualties among the enclave's children, saying it had run out of words.



Those killed since the escalation began on Sunday include 54 children. Another 850 people have been injured, the Britain-based Observatory said.



Warplanes in the sky



Rescuers said the air raids create "a state of terror" among residents in eastern Ghouta, where the United Nations says nearly 400,000 people live. The pocket of satellite towns and farms, which has been under government siege since 2013, is the last major rebel bastion near the capital.



Factions in Ghouta fired mortars at Damascus on Tuesday, killing six people and injuring 28, Syrian state TV said. The army retaliated and pounded militant targets, according to the state news agency SANA.



The Syrian foreign ministry said militants in Ghouta were targeting Damascus and using people there as "human shields". It said in a letter of complaint to the United Nations that some Western officials were denying the government's right to defend

itself.



The Civil Defence in eastern Ghouta, a rescue service that operates in rebel territory, said jets battered Kafr Batna, Saqba, Hammouriyeh and several other towns on Tuesday.



"The warplanes are not leaving the sky at all," said Siraj Mahmoud, a civil defence spokesman in Ghouta, as the sound of explosions rang out in the background.



Mahmoud said that government forces bombed houses, schools and medical facilities, and that rescuers had found more than 100 people dead "in one day alone" on Monday.



Reuters photos showed bandaged people waiting at a medical point in the town of Douma, some of them with blood streaming down their faces and their skin caked in dust.



Bombs struck five hospitals in the enclave on Monday, said the UOSSM group of aid agencies that funds medical facilities in opposition parts of Syria.



De-escalation zones



Assad's most powerful backer, Russia, has been pushing its own diplomatic track which resulted in establishing several "de-escalation zones" in rebel territory last year.



Fighting has raged on in eastern Ghouta even though it falls under the ceasefire plans that Moscow brokered with the help of Turkey and Iran. The truces do not cover a former al Qaeda affiliate, which has a small presence in the besieged enclave.



Residents and aid workers say the "de-escalation" deals have brought no relief. Food, fuel and medicine have dwindled.



The two main rebel factions in eastern Ghouta, which signed the deals with Russia last summer, accuse Damascus and Moscow of using the jihadist presence as a pretext for attacks.



Moscow did not comment on the renewed bombing in eastern Ghouta on Tuesday.



On Monday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed "armed provocations" by Nusra militants, formerly linked to al Qaeda, for conditions in Ghouta. He said Moscow and its allies could "deploy our experience of freeing Aleppo ... in the

eastern Ghouta situation".



U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura warned on Tuesday that the escalating battle in Ghouta could turn into a repeat of the bloody fight for Aleppo, over which Damascus regained full control in late 2016 after years of fighting.



"These fears seem to be well founded," the aid group International Rescue Committee also said on Tuesday. It said malnutrition was widespread and Ghouta's schools had been closed since early January because of the attacks.



"The people of Eastern Ghouta are terrified... There is nowhere safe for them to run to," IRC's Middle East Regional Director Mark Schnellbaecher said.



(REUTERS)</s>BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government air strikes and artillery killed 71 people in the eastern Ghouta pocket near Damascus over the past 24 hours, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Monday.

The Britain-based group said bombardment of the insurgent-held enclave started escalating on Sunday evening, wounding 325 people. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military.</s>Heavy Syrian regime bombardment of rebel-held Eastern Ghouta killed at least 44 civilians on Monday, a monitor said, as government forces appeared to prepare for a ground assault.

Four children were among the dead in the heavy bombardment on Eastern Ghouta, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The regime is bombing Eastern Ghouta to pave the way for a ground offensive," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

Held by rebels since 2012, the suburb of Eastern Ghouta is now the last opposition-controlled pocket around Damascus and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has dispatched reinforcements there in an apparent bid to retake it.

The Observatory and Syrian daily newspaper Al-Watan had said negotiations were under way for the evacuation of jihadist faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which controls small pockets of Eastern Ghouta.

But government forces ramped up military pressure on Eastern Ghouta starting Sunday, sending more than 260 rockets sailing onto opposition-controlled towns there.

The bombing continued Monday, sending terrified civilians in the enclave searching for cover, AFP's correspondents said.

Eastern Ghouta has been cut off from the world, besieged by the government for years.

Regime troops carried out a relentless five-day bombing campaign earlier this month that left around 250 civilians dead in the enclave and hundreds more wounded.

Surveillance planes buzzed overhead on Monday before carrying out raids on a pair of Eastern Ghouta towns, AFP's correspondents in the enclave said.

Residents walking outside in the nearby town of Hammuriyeh could be seen rushing inside in a panic as soon as they heard the sound of airplanes.

Alaa al-Din, a 23-year-old Syrian in Hammuriyeh, said civilians were afraid of a potential government offensive.

"Ghouta's fate is unknown. We've got nothing but God's mercy and hiding out in our basements," he told AFP on Monday.

According to the Observatory, the regime began dispatching military reinforcements to Eastern Ghouta on February 5, the same day it launched a fierce five-day bombing campaign on the region.

The war monitor said Monday morning's air strikes on Al-Shayfuniyeh left people wounded and caused material damage.

Regime troops fired more than 260 rockets on towns across Eastern Ghouta on Sunday, it said.

The rockets, as well as artillery fire and some air strikes, killed at least 17 civilians across the enclave on Sunday, according to the Observatory.

"In just a few hours, all of Eastern Ghouta was sprayed with rockets," Alaa al-Din recalled.

Eastern Ghouta is held by two main Islamist factions, Jaish al-Islam and Faylaq al-Rahman, both of which denied being in talks with the regime.

The regime is keen to regain control of the area to halt the deadly salvo of rockets and mortars that those factions have fired on Damascus.

About half a dozen rockets hit the capital on Sunday night, AFP correspondents said. State news agency SANA reported that one person was killed in the shelling.

More than 20 civilians have been killed by rebel fire this month alone in regime-held Damascus.

All was quiet in the capital on Monday but since rumours of an imminent assault on Eastern Ghouta started spreading, residents of neighbourhoods that are nearest to the rebel enclave started packing their bags.

Jawad al-Obros lives with his mother, father and sister in Al-Qassaa, which lies just one kilometre from Jobar, a major flashpoint on the edge of the Ghouta enclave.

Shells have rained around his home in recent weeks and the 30-year-old man this weekend started asking about hotel prices in Yaafour, which lies to the west, on the other side of the city.

"We're tired of this situation. It seems that there's no solution but a full-blown military one. We've been patient for a long time, and now it's time that we rest," he said.</s>BEIRUT, Feb 19 (Reuters) - A surge in attacks by the Syrian government and its allies has killed 71 people in the rebel pocket of eastern Ghouta in the past 24 hours, a war monitoring group said on Monday.

Air strikes, rocket fire and shelling on the besieged suburbs of Damascus also wounded 325 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

There was no comment from the Syrian military. The Damascus government says it only targets militants.

Factions in Ghouta fired mortars at districts of Damascus, killing a child and wounding eight others, Syrian state media said. Troops and allied forces struck militant targets there in response, state news agency SANA said.

The United Nations says nearly 400,000 people live in eastern Ghouta, a pocket of satellite towns and farms under government siege since 2013.

The British-based Observatory said the latest escalation started on Sunday in Ghouta, the only major insurgent enclave around the capital, and the dead included 14 children.

The civil defence there said warplanes and artillery pounded Saqba, Jisreen, and other towns. The rescue service, which operates in rebel territory, said strikes killed 20 people and wounded dozens in the town of Hammouriyeh alone on Monday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military gained momentum in the war after Russian war planes entered on his side in 2015, pushing rebels from major cities, and retaking much of central and eastern Syria from Islamic State.

Wael Olwan, spokesman for the Failaq al-Rahman rebel group in eastern Ghouta, said there was heavy bombing throughout the day.

"There are no ground invasions in the field and clashes, but there is very big shelling and preparatory fire," he said.

The United Nations said last week Syria was seeing some of the worst fighting of the war, which is entering its eighth year. The multi-sided conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.

Malnutrition has increased sharply in eastern Ghouta, particularly among children, with barely any food aid available, the U.N. office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA) says.

Rising violence reportedly pushed some 15,000 civilians to flee their homes last month, taking refuge in makeshift shelters or basements, OCHA said.

Eastern Ghouta falls under ceasefire plans for rebel territory that Russia has brokered with the help of Turkey and Iran.

Residents and aid workers say the "de-escalation" deals have brought no relief. Food, fuel, and medicine have dwindled.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday Moscow and its allies could "deploy our experience of freeing Aleppo ... in the eastern Ghouta situation".

With support from Russia and Iran, Damascus regained full control of Aleppo city in late 2016, after years of fighting and months of siege ended with a bloody insurgent retreat.

Lavrov blamed "armed provocations" by Nusra militants, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, for current conditions in eastern Ghouta, and for targeting Damascus.

The two main factions in Ghouta, including Failaq al-Rahman, accuse Moscow and the Syrian army of breaching the de-escalation agreements. They say they have used the presence of a few hundred fighters from al Qaeda's former Syria branch as a pretext to attack the enclave. (Reporting by Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall; Additional reporting by Polina Ivanova in Moscow and Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Andrew Roche)</s>BEIRUT: A surge in attacks by the Syrian government and its allies killed 94 people in the rebel pocket of eastern Ghouta in the space of 24 hours, a war monitoring group said on Monday.

Air strikes, rocket fire and shelling on the besieged suburbs of Damascus also wounded another 325 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

There was no comment from the Syrian military. The Damascus government says it only targets militants.

Factions in Ghouta fired mortars at districts of Damascus, killing a child and wounding eight others, Syrian state media said. Troops and allied forces struck militant targets there in response, the state news agency SANA said.

The United Nations says nearly 400,000 people live in eastern Ghouta, a pocket of satellite towns and farms under government siege since 2013.

Panos Moumtzis, U.N. regional coordinator for the Syria crisis, said an "extreme escalation in hostilities" had killed at least 40 civilians and injured more than 150 on Monday.

"The humanitarian situation of civilians in East Ghouta is spiraling out of control," he said in a statement. "Many residents have little choice but to take shelter in basements and underground bunkers with their children."

The British-based Observatory said the latest escalation started on Sunday, and the dead included 18 children.

The local civil defence group said warplanes and artillery had pounded Saqba, Jisreen, and other towns. The rescue service, which operates in rebel territory, said strikes killed 20 people and wounded dozens in the town of Hammouriyeh alone on Monday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military gained momentum in the war after Russian war planes entered on his side in 2015, pushing rebels out of major cities, and retaking much of central and eastern Syria from Islamic State.

Wael Olwan, spokesman for the Failaq al-Rahman rebel group in eastern Ghouta, said there had been heavy bombing throughout the day.

"There are no ground invasions in the field and clashes, but there is very big shelling and preparatory fire," he said.

The United Nations said last week Syria was seeing some of the worst fighting of the war, which is entering its eighth year. The multi-sided conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.

Malnutrition has increased sharply in eastern Ghouta with hardly any food aid reaching the residents, the U.N. office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA) says.

Rising violence reportedly pushed some 15,000 civilians to flee their homes last month, taking refuge in makeshift shelters or basements in the enclave, OCHA said.

Eastern Ghouta falls under ceasefire plans for rebel territory that Russia has brokered with the help of Turkey and Iran.

Residents and aid workers say the "de-escalation" deals have brought no relief. Food, fuel, and medicine have dwindled.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow and its allies could "deploy our experience of freeing Aleppo ... in the eastern Ghouta situation".

With support from Russia and Iran, Damascus regained full control of the city of Aleppo in late 2016, after years of fighting and months of siege ended with an insurgent retreat.

Lavrov blamed "armed provocations" by Nusra militants, formerly linked to al Qaeda, for current conditions in eastern Ghouta.

The two main factions in Ghouta, which include Failaq al-Rahman, accuse Moscow and the Syrian army of breaching the de-escalation agreements. They say they have used the presence of a few hundred fighters from al Qaeda's former Syria branch as a pretext to attack the enclave.</s>(BEIRUT) — A Syrian monitoring group and paramedics say government shelling and airstrikes on rebel-held suburbs of the capital, Damascus, killed at least 98 people on Monday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it was the deadliest day in three years in the area known as Eastern Ghouta. The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, said the shelling and airstrikes killed 98 and that some people are still under the rubble.The Observatory says 20 children and 15 women were among those killed on Monday.The targeted suburbs have been subjected to weeks-long bombardment that has killed and wounded hundreds of people.

Opposition activists say government forces have brought in reinforcements in preparation for a wider offensive on the area — the last main rebel stronghold near Damascus.</s>BEIRUT - Accelerating bombardment by the government and its allies killed at least 35 people in the rebel-held eastern Ghouta region near Damascus in 24 hours, a war monitor said on Monday.



The death toll from air strikes, rocket fire and shelling on several areas of the besieged enclave of towns and farms included five children, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.



Rebel groups in eastern Ghouta fired mortars at areas of Damascus held by the government, killing a child and injuring eight other people, Syrian state media said.



Eastern Ghouta, the largest rebel bastion left near the capital, is home to almost 400,000 people according to the United Nations and has been besieged since 2013.



Syrian President Bashar Assad has gained momentum in the war since Russia entered on his side in 2015, pushing the rebels from big cities and retaking much of central and eastern Syria from Islamic State.



The Observatory said the army and its allies were preparing a military offensive in eastern Ghouta.



Jihadist rebels, including some loyal to Islamic State, also hold much of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in the southern suburbs of Damascus.</s>Bombardments by Syrian government forces have killed scores of civilians in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area outside Damascus, monitors say.

If confirmed, it would make Monday one of the deadliest days for the district since it came under siege in 2013.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said at least 100 civilians, including 20 children, were killed by rockets and air strikes.

Syrian forces stepped up an offensive to retake the area earlier this month.

The SOHR said 470 people had been injured, some critically.

Urging a halt to the bombardment, a UN official said the situation was spiralling out of control.

The Eastern Ghouta is the last remaining opposition-held enclave near the capital and is completely surrounded by areas under government control.

Last week the Eastern Ghouta, home to almost 400,000 people, received its first aid delivery in almost three months.

Meanwhile, Turkey warned the Syrian government not to help Kurds fighting against Turkish forces in northern Syria.

The attacks on the Eastern Ghouta area since Sunday have hit not only civilians but also their means of survival, targeting bakeries, warehouses and anything else that may hold food supplies.

It is the worst single day of the bombing that people there have seen in years. People are fearful of it becoming another Aleppo scenario.

Aid workers say the attacks targeted major roads in the area, which will block any aid or rescue operation and hinder the movement of ambulances.

The death toll is rising because medical facilities were also hit. Four makeshift hospitals, including a maternity facility, were struck on Monday. The rebels have been responding with mortar attacks on Damascus but the government’s military might is far stronger.

Monday’s reported death toll has not been independently verified.

Videos from Hamouria, a town in the enclave where at least 20 people were reportedly killed in air strikes on Monday, showed people fleeing heavily damaged buildings covered in dust and debris.

In December international aid organisations warned conditions in the rebel-held area had reached a “critical point” for civilians because of shortages of food, fuel and medicines.

UN regional humanitarian coordinator Panos Moumtzis said it was “imperative” to end the “senseless human suffering” in the Eastern Ghouta.

“Many residents have little choice but to take shelter in basements and underground bunkers with their children,” he noted.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said conditions in the enclave were being exaggerated by international actors.

“In the UN, the topic of humanitarian problems in the Eastern Ghouta and Idlib is being actively hyped up,” he said, according to Russian media reports.

Next month marks seven years of civil conflict in Syria.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and an estimated five million have fled the country.

Eastern Ghouta is an agricultural belt, about 15km (nine miles) east of the city centre.

The area is made up of 22 communities.

It has been designated a “de-escalation zone” by Russia and Iran, the Syrian government’s main allies, along with Turkey, which backs the opposition.

The main rebel groups are the Salafist Jaish al-Islam (formerly known as Liwa al-Islam), al-Rahman Corps, an affiliate of the Free Syrian Army, and also Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is made of several smaller groups including former members of Jabhat al-Nusra, which has its roots in al-Qaeda.
Ahead of an expected ground offensive, Syrian Air Force strikes on rebel-held eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, kill at least 44 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.