At least 20 civilians were killed in attacks by Bashar al-Assad regime forces in opposition-held parts of Syria’s Eastern Ghouta district, according to Syrian Civil Defense sources.

The Syrian Civil Defense organization, also known as the White Helmets, said that 11 civilians -- including White Helmets personnel -- were killed by regime attacks in the district’s Misraba area late Wednesday.

Another six people were killed in Arbin area of Eastern Ghouta Wednesday night, said the White Helmets adding that three more civilians, including two children, were also killed by regime airstrikes in Beyt Sava area.

The Russian air force bombarded the civilian settlements in the region to give air support to the regime forces that sieged the Eastern Ghouta and intensified its attack on civilians, according to White Helmet sources.

Hammuria, Duma, Haresta, Ayn Tarma, Madyara, Arbin, Kafar Batna, Misraba, Marj and Beyt Seva regions were also targeted with heavy artillery fires and airstrikes on Wednesday, said the group.

The wounded were taken to hospitals by Civil Defense teams.

Assad forces have been bombing Eastern Ghouta since Nov. 14.

The area, which has been under the siege of regime forces since Dec. 2012, falls within a network of de-escalation zones -- set up in Syria by Turkey, Russia and Iran -- in which acts of aggression are forbidden.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.

PHOTO CAPTION

Smoke rises after Assad Regime's airplanes carried out airstrike over the besieged town of Arbin in Eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria on January 2, 2018.

AA