Russia: Thousands more fleeing eastern Ghouta via corridor

Russia's military says more than 11,000 people have left Syria's besieged eastern Ghouta outside the capital Damascus in the past few hours as government forces step up an offencive on the rebel enclave.

Maj Gen Vladimir Zolotukhin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that some 3,000 people have been leaving every hour today through a government-run humanitarian corridor monitored by the Russian military.

Zolotukhin is spokesman for the Russian centre for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria.

Airstrikes in Syria killed more than 100 people yesterday as civilians fled en masse. Under cover of allied Russian air power, Syrian government forces have been on a crushing offencive for three weeks on eastern Ghouta.

The weekslong violence has left more than 1,300 civilians dead and 5,000 wounded.