Military shelling kills 13 in rebel-held town near Syrian capital

At least 13 people were killed on Saturday by Syrian army shelling on a rebel-held town east of the capital Damascus, a monitor group reported.

The shelling on the town of Douma, a main stronghold for the rebels' Islam Army in the Eastern Ghouta region east of Damascus, killed 13 people and wounded 22 others, some critically, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Meanwhile, the London-based group, which says it relies on a network of activists on ground, said intense battles have been raging between the Syrian army and several jihadi groups at the outskirts of town Bala in Eastern Ghouta.

The clashes near Bala killed five jihadists and an undisclosed number of government soldiers, added the watchdog group.

The shelling and the violence in Eastern Ghouta has seen a lull over the past few months, since a U.S.-Russian-backed truce went into effect last February.

The recent escalation of violence on several fronts across the country, and the failure of reaching a common ground on the political arena between the government and the opposition in the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva have sparked a new wave of violence, threatening thus the already-shaky truce.

On Friday, the United Nations special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said the Syrian truce is in grave peril.

The truce "is still in effect, but it is in great trouble if we don't act quickly," Mistura told reporters in Geneva, calling on the international community to join force to help strengthen the cease-fire. Endit