AP, Beirut, 12 August 2015 —Government airstrikes around Syria’s capital on Wednesday killed at least 36 people and wounded scores more in a surge in violence just hours before the arrival of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, activists and state media said.
Zarif arrived in Damascus later, likely to discuss a four-point proposal Iran wants to offer to the United Nations to end Syria’s grinding civil war. That plan reportedly includes a cease-fire and a “national unity government.”
But the uptick in violence ahead of the visit underscored the improbability of such efforts bringing about a truce anytime soon in a conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people since March 2011.

Government warplanes attacked several rebel-held suburbs of the capital. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist group, said the air raids on Hamouriyeh, Saqba, Kfar Batna, Douma and Arbeen killed 35 and wounded dozens. The Observatory said the airstrikes killed at least 31 people and wounded more than 120.
During an earlier stop in Beirut, Zarif did not mention the Syrian war. He said there is “a new opportunity” for all the countries in the region.