Syria: Child killed as mortar shells strike Damascus

The SANA news agency confirmed that a child was among the three killed.

In separate developments, Syrian and Russian warplanes heavily pounded positions of the terrorists in the areas of Douma, Ain Terma, and Saqba in the outskirts of Damascus, leaving scores of the militants dead and injured.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said unidentified war planes hit the town of Douma, 10 miles (15 km) northeast of the capital, and surface-to-surface missiles fired by the Syrian army also hit the surrounding areas, including Eastern Ghouta.

A member of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and a man look for survivors amid the rubble following airstrikes in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern edges of the Syrian capital Damascus, on December 13, 2015.

At least 31 civilians were killed Sunday in heavy bombardment of a besieged Syrian rebel stronghold east of Damascus that also struck a school, a monitoring group said. Al-Moallem, according to SANA, emphasized the need for reconciliation and local truces to help in that regard.

Since late September, Russia has been carrying out bombings against the ISIL terrorists in Syria, after Russia’s parliament granted President Putin authorization to deploy the country’s air force overseas. Nusra Front fighters and other hard-line rebels were among those who evacuated Waer after rejecting the cease-fire deal.

“Truces are the first step to surrender”, al-Golani said, speaking to a small group of local and loyalist journalists that was aired on the opposition Orient TV.

Before departing, Kerry attended a French-hosted foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris to compare notes on a conference of Syrian opposition figures held last week in Saudi Arabia.

Fighting on the ground in Syria has intensified even as the worldwide community makes its most serious push yet to restart peace talks between government officials and opposition representatives.