Scores dead in assault on rebel-held Damascus suburb
BEIRUT - Intense Syrian government shelling and airstrikes of rebel-held Damascus suburbs killed at least 98 people Monday in what was the deadliest day in the area in three years, a monitoring group and paramedics said Tuesday.
A day after Monday's government barrage, retaliatory shells rained down on the capital Damascus, killing at least 45 people on Tuesday.
The targeted suburbs -- scattered across an area known as eastern Ghouta -- have been subjected to weeks-long bombardment that has killed and wounded hundreds of people. Opposition activists say government forces have brought in more reinforcements in recent days, suggesting a major assault is imminent to recapture the area that is the last main rebel stronghold near Damascus.
Monday's bombardment saw the use of warplanes, helicopter gunships, missiles as well as artillery, in a major escalation of violence near President Bashar Assad's seat of power.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was the deadliest days in eastern Ghouta since 2015.
