Syrian regime aircraft continue their slaughter in Eastern Ghouta

Syrian regime and Russian aircraft continued their devastating bombing of Eastern Ghouta in the Damascus countryside on Wednesday, with at least 24 people killed in the latest attacks.

Three children were among the dead and more than 200 injured, according the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria's White Helmets rescue teams and doctors are struggling to cope with the huge number of casualties caused by relentless regime shelling and bombing.

Footage has shown aircraft flying above towns in the besieged opposition territories and raining barrel bombs down on the homes below.

These crude, improvised, indiscriminate explosive devices - usually dropped from helicopters - have caused at least tens of thousands of deaths in Syria during the seven-year war.

Around 400,000 civilians are trapped in Eastern Ghouta due to a government siege, while regime planes have launched hundreds of airstrikes on the towns and villages in what was once the bread basket of Syria.

Syrian medical teams are stuggling to cope with the slaughter [AFP]

The bloodshed is causing untold misery for families - particularly for terrified children - living in the province.

More than 274 people have been killed in Eastern Ghouta - including 67 children - since the Syrian regime and its allies began its brutal offensive on the besieged territory on Sunday.

NGOs and human rights groups have condemned the killings, which echoes the regime bombardment of eastern Aleppo in late 2016, prior to a government assault on the territory.

UNICEF gave a simple and damning comment on the latest bombing: "No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones."

Regime helicopters have rained barrel bombs down on Eastern Ghouta [AFP]

Footage showed piles of dead bodies in hospitals and murdered children retrieved from the rubble. 

Even for Eastern Ghouta which has witnessed similar carnage during years of blockades, gas attacks and bombing, the recent onslaught has exceptionally horrific.

A doctor told the BBC that the combination of a lack of supplies and sustained bombardment has left medical teams struggling to cope with the daily massacres.

"We don't have anything - no food, no medicine, no shelter," Dr Bassam told the BBC.

"We don't have bread. We don't have anything... maybe every minute we have 10 or 20 air strike."

At least six hospitals have been put out of action in the shelling.