Two days of ceasefires in three Syrian towns

Forty-eight-hour ceasefires between Syrian rebels and pro-government forces have reportedly begun in three towns.

The truces will allow food and medical supplies to be delivered to the rebel stronghold of Zabadani, on the border with Lebanon, and to government-held Fuaa and Kafraya in the north-west.

They were agreed by the rebel group Ahrar al-Sham and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, an ally of Syria's president.

Meanwhile, At least 31 people have been killed in air strikes just outside the Syrian capital of Damascus, a monitoring group has said.

Rebel fighters fired dozens of rockets at several central districts of the capital on Wednesday morning, killing four civilians and a soldier, officials said.

Activists said the government had responded by carrying out air strikes on the suburbs of Douma, Kafr Batna, Saqba, and Hamouriya in the Eastern Ghouta agricultural belt, killing at least 31 civilians and wounding more than 120 others.

PEACEFUL BEGINING

The 48-hour ceasefires in Zabadani, Fuaa and Kafraya began at 06:00 (03:00 GMT), according to Hezbollah's al-Manar TV.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said no fighting was reported on Wednesday morning. However, the UK-based monitoring group added that talks were continuing on evacuating rebel fighters from Zabadani and ending the sieges of the two government-held towns.

More than 230,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Mr Assad erupted in 2011. Some 11.5 million others - more than half of the country's population - have fled their homes.

The local ceasefires were announced hours before the arrival of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Damascus.

On Wednesday, Mr Zarif discussed regional crises with Hezbollah's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, including attempts to "find solutions in more than one country", al-Manar reported.

It comes after Amnesty International alleged in a new report that the government had committed war crimes against the 163,000 people living under siege in the Eastern Ghouta, with relentless aerial bombardment and shelling magnifying their suffering.

22 CHRISTIANS RELEASED

Islamic State has released 22 of the dozens of Assyrian Christians it abducted from villages in northeastern Syria earlier this year, a monitoring group said on Tuesday.

It was not clear how many Assyrians remain in the hands of the ultra-hardline Islamist militants, but Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said they continued to hold more than 150.

The head of a Syrian Assyrian group in Sweden, Afram Yakoub, confirmed the release and said all of the freed captives were elderly men and women.

Abdulrahman said a ransom has been paid but Yakoub denied it.

"Some have health issues, so we believe they released them because of health issues and because they are old," Yakoub, chairman of the Assyrian Federation of Sweden, told Reuters by telephone.

"The release is a small sign of hope. It gives us some hope that some day those remaining will be released."

In March, the group released 19 of the captives.