At least 23 civilians were killed Wednesday in the Syrian opposition redoubt of Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, with the majority of victims perishing in Russian air raids, a monitor said, reports Agencies.
Both the monitor and the Syrian Civil Defence, a group of volunteer first responders, said at least 18 people died in a double-tap air raid in the besieged town of Misraba on Wednesday night, while three others were killed in the Bett Sawa area, including women and children.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said three children and 11 women were among those killed.
The war in Syria has killed more than 340,000 people and displaced millions from their homes since it began in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Eastern Ghouta, a small enclave east of the capital Damascus, is controlled mostly by rebels from the Jaish al-Islam group.
Russia first launched bombing raids in 2015 in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's beleaguered forces.
Those strikes have helped Assad regain control over much of war-ravaged Syria.
The Observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.
The SOHR said 70 people have been killed in Eastern Ghouta since December 31. Al Jazeera cannot independently confirm the veracity of the casualty figures.
Eastern Ghouta has been targeted despite being among a handful of so-called de-escalation zones in Syria, where military activity is prohibited under a ceasefire agreement endorsed by Turkey, Russia, and Iran earlier this year.
