UN slams Syria marketplace airstrike

Douma is situated within the Syrian insurgent stronghold of Japanese Ghouta and is a daily goal of presidency air strikes.

Mr Abdelrahman, whose group has a network of activists around the country, said a total of four missiles were fired on the market, killing 82 and wounding more than 200.

O’Brien said he was “particularly appalled” by reports about Sunday’s airstrikes on Douma that reportedly killed at least 110 civilians, and said those attacks “must stop”.

A string of bloody incidents greeted the UN’s new humanitarian chief, Stephen O’Brien, as he made his first visit to Syria since taking the role.

It is not the first time that the Syrian government has accused de Mistura – and other U.N. envoys before him – of prejudice in the Syrian conflict.

At least 96 people were killed on Sunday in 10 government raids on Douma, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

All are seeking a way to break an impasse politically though many key differences remain, especially those over the future of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

Russia’s top diplomat also expressed the need for the Syrian government and the delegation representing all of the groups that oppose it to sit down and hold talks, adding that it any decisions must be based on “the mutual consent of the government and its opponents.”

Syria’s main opposition body in exile, the National Coalition, denounced the strikes and the international community’s “lukewarm response” towards the war’s civilian casualties.

Syria’s conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and wounded at least a million.

“Hitting crowded civilian markets (and) killing almost one hundred of its own citizens by a government is unacceptable in any circumstances”, de Mistura said, repeating calls for the warring sides to urgently start a dialogue toward a political solution.

In a statement released by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, O’Brien appealed “to each and every party to this protracted conflict to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law”.

“This is an official massacre that was carried out deliberately”, said Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It also accused rebels in the region of war crimes for firing rockets indiscriminately into Damascus. “It is clear to me that those cutting water supplies as a weapon of war, it is unacceptable”, O’Brien said.