23 civilians killed in Syrian airstrikes

Syrian government airstrikes and shelling have killed at least 23 civilians outside the capital Damascus, according to activists.

The figures were given by the locally-run Ghouta Media Centre.

But at least 25 deaths were reported by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group as residential areas of Damascus’s Eastern Ghouta suburbs suffered attacks from government jets and artillery,

Rescuers in the town of Misraba, in the eastern Ghouta region, picked up dead and wounded from streets in a residential area.

Syrian rebels attacked a military installation in the area earlier this month.

Rebels and pro-government forces were still fighting for the compound, outside the town of Harasta, also in Eastern Ghouta, yesterday.

A major-general in the army was killed in the battle on Saturday, according to the Observatory, with pro-government pages on social media announcing his death yesterday.