BEIRUT: Air strikes killed 40 civilians in the last opposition-held town in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta on Friday and the army launched a ground offensive on its outskirts after talks sputtered over a rebel withdrawal. “At least 40 civilians including 8 children have been killed in air strikes and rocket fire on Douma,” it said. State news agency SANA said Syrian air strikes hit the town on Friday in response to deadly rebel mortar fire from Douma. But Jaish al-Islam spokesman Hamza Bayraqdar in a statement late Friday denied that the group had targeted any Damascus neighbourhood. It remains unclear exactly why the talks between Moscow and Jaish al-Islam have faltered.

Source: New Strait Times April 06, 2018 23:37 UTC