A civil defence volunteer, known as the White Helmets, checks the site of a regime air strike in the rebel-held town of Saqba, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region, on Saturday (AFP photo)

BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS — Rescuers in Syria’s eastern Ghouta said the bombing would not let up long enough for them to count the bodies during one of the bloodiest air assaults of the seven-year war, while the UN Security Council called for a 30-day humanitarian truce. With support from Russia, the Security Council adopted a resolution on the ceasefire to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations, but the measure did not specify when the truce would go into force beyond saying it should be "without delay." Saturday’s Security Council resolution followed seven days of air strikes and shelling by the Syrian government and its allies, in what has been one of the fiercest air-assaults of the seven-year war, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Government forces launch a ground and air offensive in eastern Ghouta despite the adoption of Resolution 2401 by the United Nations Security Council demanding a ceasefire in part of the area.