Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces killed at least 98 people, including 20 children and 15 women, in one of the deadliest days of bombing in the opposition-held area of Eastern Ghouta in three years, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said Tuesday.
The shelling and airstrikes took place on Monday.
The deaths could not be immediately independently verified by USA TODAY. However, Syrian Civil Defense, a civilian-led emergency response group known as White Helmets, which operates in rebel-held areas, said some people are still trapped under the rubble. It said hundreds have been wounded in a week-long bombardment.
Eastern Ghouta is the last main rebel stronghold near Syria's capital Damascus in the country's multi-sided, 7-year-old civil war that has pitted Assad's government and its allies, including Iran and Russia, against a coalition of opposition Arab fighters that include Sunni Muslims, Kurds and other Syrian minority groups.
The United States backs some of the Arab fighters, not to topple Assad, but for their separate focus on battling the Islamic State group and other extremists.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
