Syria's Ghouta bleeds on

Syria's regime sent reinforcements to Eastern Ghouta yesterday, tightening the noose around the shrinking rebel enclave hours before a top-level UN meeting on the escalating violence.

The blistering onslaught has prompted outrage against the regime, with the United Nations' human rights chief saying the government was orchestrating an "apocalypse" in Syria.

The Russia-backed Syrian army and allied militia launched an offensive on February 18 to retake the last opposition bastion near Damascus.

They have since taken more than 40 percent of the enclave, waging a devastating bombing campaign that has killed more than 800 civilians.

Heavy air strikes battered several key towns in the zone yesterday, as Syria's government dispatched hundreds of pro-government militiamen to the front.

The United Nations Security Council was set to meet behind closed doors yesterday afternoon to discuss the failed truce, after France and Britain requested urgent talks.

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the Syrian regime and its foreign allies were already planning their next "apocalypse."

"This month, it is Eastern Ghouta which is, in the words of the Secretary General, hell on earth; next month or the month after, it will be somewhere else where people face an apocalypse -- an apocalypse intended, planned and executed by individuals within the government, apparently with the full backing of some of their foreign supporters," said Hussein.

Meanwhile, Turkey yesterday asked the US to stop Kurdish militia forces deemed "terrorists" by Ankara from moving to Syria's Afrin region to battle against Turkish military operation.

The Turkish army on January 20 launched an operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in their enclave of Afrin near the border.