Dozens killed in Syrian regime barrel bombing of Eastern Ghouta

At least 45 people have died in a wave of Syrian regime bombings in the opposition enclave of Eastern Ghouta, as residents waited for aid to the besieged Damascus suburbs.

Nineteen people were killed in a barrel bomb attack on the town of Hammuriye in Eastern Ghouta, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. 

The death toll is expected to rise as rescue workers retrieve the dead and injured from the rubble.

It brings the civilian death toll from two-week Syrian regime and Russian offensive on Eastern Ghouta to 725, including 275 women and children.

Syrian regime air strikes on Eastern Ghouta Sunday killed 36 civilians, a monitoring group said.

Eastern Ghouta should be covered by an UN-sponsored ceasefire, but the agreed truce has done little to halt the horrific bombing of the besieged enclave.

Regime forces have also continued with a ground offensive and seized around a third of the opposition territories.

Two-weeks of intense shelling and bombing of Eastern Ghouta and a siege lasting several years has left healthcare in the enclave on the brink of collapse. Food and clean water are also running dangerously low.

A Red Crescent aid convoy due to reach Eastern Ghouta Monday was stripped of life-saving medical supplies by the regime.

Meanwhile Turkish air strikes in the northern Kurdish enclave of Afrin Monday killed 13 civilians including two children.

The Syrian town of Jandairi has come under fire by Turkish troops and Syrian rebel fighters since dawn Monday.