32 killed in Syrian regime attacks near Damascus

By Mohammed Misto and Abdul Rahman Khader

DAMASCUS (AA) – The death toll from regime raids near Damascus has risen to 32, according to the pro-opposition civil defense authority.

Regime warplanes carried out aerial attacks on several opposition-held towns in the Eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus on Monday.

Scores of people, mostly children, were injured in the attacks, the authority said in a statement on Tuesday.

Since March 2011, the Syrian opposition has demanded an end to more than 44 years of the Assad family’s rule and the establishment of a democratic state.

The Syrian regime responded to the protests with military force, pushing the country into a vicious downward spiral of violence, bloody battles and a civil war that is still ongoing between the regime and opposition forces.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.