Syrian warplanes kill 76, injure 140 in eastern Ghouta, monitor says

Syrian government airstrikes killed about 76 civilians, including 20 children, and injured 140others on Thursday, the fourth day of attacks against a rebel-held region, a war monitor reported.

Warplanes pounded various parts of eastern Ghouta, a besieged pocket of satellite towns and farms near the Syrian capital of Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian army.

The death toll roseafter the bombing of a market in the village of Arbin, where airstrikes killed 27, including 10 children and three women, the monitor said.

The Observatory saidthe eastern Ghouta death toll from four days of bombardment has reached 229, including 58 children.

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria expressed distress at the deteriorating security and humanitarian conditions in the area.

The Syrian government has repeatedly said it only targets militants.

In Damascus, shelling of the old city quarter by rebel factions in eastern Ghouta killed two civilians and damaged houses and properties.

UN calls for ceasefire

The United Nations called on Tuesday for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Syria of at least a month.

The U.S. saidRussia must use its influence over Bashar al-Assad's forces to ensure Syria immediately allows UN aid to reach vulnerable civilians.

Nauert saidthe U.S. is "extremely concerned" about the growing violence in eastern Ghouta, as well as in Idlib.