DHAKA: At least 45 civilians were killed on Sunday in heavy bombardment of a besieged Syrian rebel stronghold east of Damascus that also struck a school.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rockets fired by regime forces rained down on the towns of Douma, Harasta, Saqba and Arbin in the opposition-held Eastern Ghouta region, reports the telegraph.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Observatory, said air strikes also hit the towns, but it was unclear whether they were carried out by Syrian or Russian warplanes.

At least 10 children and four women were among the dead and dozens of people were wounded, he said.

"One of the air strikes on Douma hit near a school, killing the school's principal," said Abdel Rahman.

A small girl's body lay on an operating table in a field hospital, as doctors prepared to operate on her badly-wounded leg.

An activist group in Douma shared photographs on Facebook of crumbling buildings and bloodied children lying in a makeshift clinic.

In one jarring photo, children's shoes, notebooks, and bags are strewn across the blood-stained floor of what the group said was a schoolyard in Douma.

Abdel Rahman said one rebel fighter was also killed in the bombardment on Sunday.

BDST:  0943 HRS, DEC 14, 2015
RS