At Least 80 People Lost Their Lives in Air Strikes near Damascus

The airstrikes hit a vegetable market in the suburb, which is a stronghold of the Islam Army rebel group.

Sixty bodies were buried on Sunday night in two mass graves, said a spokesman for the Syrian Civil Defence force in Douma, a rescue service operating in rebel-held areas. About 200 other people were reportedly injured in the attack.

Zarif’s visit to Moscow came after Lavrov last week hosted Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister and representatives of the Syrian opposition, who all insisted Assad must go. In one makeshift clinic in Douma, whole sections of floor were covered with rows of the dead, as volunteers worked to wrap each victim in a white shroud.

“Attacks on civilians are unlawful, unacceptable and must stop”, O’Brien said.

The United Nations and our partners are providing assistance to millions of Syrians in need, including by crossing conflict lines and global borders. However, O’Brien said, “I remain extremely concerned for the welfares of the 4.6 million people stuck in hard-to-reach and besieged areas”.

The aid chief also spoke out against water cuts by non-state armed groups, calling them an “unacceptable weapon of war”.

The protracted conflict in Syria not only “severely affects” the lives of millions of people in the country but also threatens the stability of the entire region, Stephen O’Brien said at a press conference in Damascus. The raids continued on Monday morning, with activists reporting three new air strikes. The Observatory gave no details of casualties in Monday’s air strikes.

He was “particularly appalled” by government air strikes on a rebel-held suburb of the capital on Sunday.

Firas Abdullah, a local photographer in Douma, told Al Jazeera that the market was the main meeting place in Douma.

Emergency personnel carry a wounded man following airstrikes on a market in Douma, Syria, on Sunday.

Warplanes attacked the district for the second day running on Monday amid claims from survivors that the global focus on Islamic State meant other atrocities were increasingly being ignored.

The Observatory reported that 96 people were killed.

Footage posted online by activists showing mangled stalls and cars, with fruit that had been on sale lying in the dust and rubble. Both Lavrov and Zarif said that there should be no preconditions for the resumption of talks.

“These abhorrent actions underscore that the Assad regime has lost legitimacy and that the worldwide community must do more to enable a genuine political transition”, National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price said.

Critics of the regime say that by targeting civilians rather than militant groups, it has made the Syrian people themselves pay the highest price in a war which has forced almost 10 million from their homes.