At least 16 civilians were killed and dozens wounded on Saturday in an air strike on a rebel-held area outside Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. It said it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strike on the town Hammuriyeh in the opposition bastion of Eastern Ghouta, which has been targeted by both the government and its ally Russia in the past.
"Sixteen civilians, including a child, were killed and around 50 others wounded in an air strike on the main street in the town of Hammuriyeh," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. He could not immediately confirm if all the wounded were civilians, or if some were rebel fighters. The death toll could rise further because a number of the injured were in serious condition, he added. An AFP photographer saw members of the White Helmets rescue organisation removing survivors from the aftermath of the street, including a man whose face was coated in blood. Other White Helmet volunteers sprayed water from hoses onto smoking rubble including overturned and mangled cars.