AIRSTRIKES OUTSIDE DAMASCUS KILL AT LEAST 45 CIVILIANS

BEIRUT Russian and Syrian government forces launched a new wave of airstrikes on Tuesday, killing at least 45 civilians in a besieged area just outside of Syria’s capital, Damascus, according to activists and a war monitoring group.

The onslaught came a day after a rash of airstrikes battered Syrian opposition areas, killing more than 28 people around the country and striking at hospitals and residential buildings in the northwestern Idlib province.

Syrian government forces have been on the offensive in Idlib in recent weeks but the push intensified after militants shot down a Russian Su- 25 fighter jet near the town of Saraqeb over the weekend.

Russia has waged a punishing aerial campaign against Syria’s armed opposition since intervening in the civil war on the side of its ally, President Bashar Assad, in 2015.

The Britain- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 towns in the eastern Ghouta region outside Da- mascus were bombed on Tuesday. The activist- run Ghouta Media Center said at least two, Douma and Harasta, was struck by ground-to-ground missiles.

The Syrian Civil Defence search-andrescue group, known as the White Helmets, which works in opposition areas, called it “another bloody day for civilians” in eastern Ghouta.

It released a video showing its workers rushing to rescue victims from underneath the rubble Tuesday.