15 dead in regime air raids near Damascus: monitor

At least 15 civilians, including three minors, were killed in Syrian regime air raids on a rebel-held town near the capital on Friday, a monitoring group said.

“At least 15 civilians, including three aged under 18, were killed in eight raids by Syrian military planes on several districts of the town of Douma,” 13 kilometres (eight miles) northeast of Damascus, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On Thursday, regime air strikes killed 20 people, including two children and two women, in Jisrin to the east of Damascus, and two others in nearby Saqba, according to the Observatory.

Closing in on Douma, a town of 200,000 residents, the army has seized control of Mleiha and Adra and has set its sights on Jobar and Ain Tarma, all towns to the east of the capital.