Aid convoy enters Syria enclave

A UN convoy entered Syria's Eastern Ghouta yesterday to deliver much-needed aid as regime forces seized more ground in a fierce offensive to retake the battered rebel enclave.

The United Nations said 46 trucks had entered Eastern Ghouta and were headed for the main town of Douma, in the first aid delivery since the start of the regime assault last month.

The aid arrived after fresh air strikes hit Eastern Ghouta and regime troops were reported to have retaken a third of the enclave in a rapidly advancing offensive.

A boy kisses his relative, who was wounded in government shelling, in the radiography room of a hospital in Douma. Photo: AFP

Western powers have piled pressure on Damascus and its Russian ally to end the offensive on Eastern Ghouta but President Bashar al-Assad warned there would be no let up.

More than two weeks of air strikes, artillery and rocket fire have left more than 700 civilians dead and three quarters of housing damaged in the enclave.

More bombs, including crude improvised munitions known as "barrel bombs", were dropped in overnight raids yesterday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

At least 10 people were killed in the town of Hammuriyeh, said the Britain-based Observatory.

Another four died in the towns of Hazeh and Jisreen, the monitor said, bringing to 709 the number of civilians killed since the assault began.

The UN Human Rights Council yesterday ordered an immediate probe into the situation in Eastern Ghouta.

The council approved a resolution calling on war crimes investigators to "urgently conduct a comprehensive and independent inquiry into recent events in Eastern Ghouta."