By Mohamed Misto

DAMASCUS

Dozens of people were killed Friday -- and hundreds more injured -- when Syrian regime and Russian warplanes struck a crowded market in Eastern Ghouta, an opposition-held Damascus suburb.

According to the White Helmets civil-defense agency, at least 61 civilians were killed in the attack, which occurred in the town of Kafr Batna.

An Anadolu Agency correspondent based in the area reported that warplanes had targeted Kafr Batna’s main market, which had been teeming with people at the time of the attack.

Home to some 400,000 civilian residents, Syria’s Eastern Ghouta district has remained the target of a crippling regime siege for the last five years.