Syrian regime forces have launched a fresh ground and air offensive against rebel positions in the besieged and battered enclave of eastern Ghouta in defiance of a nationwide ceasefire ordered by the UN security council. Witnesses said fighting erupted on several fronts on Sunday in what was seen as a possible last-ditch bid by Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, to eliminate opposition resistance in Ghouta, near Damascus, before the 30-day ceasefire can be enforced. Renewed airstrikes and artillery shelling killed nine people and injured 31 in the eastern suburbs, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group. It said the bombing was less intense than attacks over the past week.(theguardian)…[+]