Syria

The US pressed Russia to use its "influence" to secure an "immediate" full-fledged halt to a bloody offensive in Syria's rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta. "The Syrian regime, and its Russian and Iranian backers, continue to attack East Ghouta, a densely populated suburb of Damascus, despite the ceasefire called for by the United Nations Security Council," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert tweeted. "#Russia has the influence to stop these operations if it chooses to live up to its obligations under the #UNSC ceasefire," she added.