More than 11,000 people have left Syria’s besieged eastern Ghouta as government forces step up an offensive on the rebel enclave, officials say.

Maj Gen Vladimir Zolotukhin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that some 3,000 people have been leaving every hour through a government-run humanitarian corridor monitored by the Russian military.

Mr Zolotukhin is spokesman for the Russian centre for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria.

Airstrikes in Syria killed more than 100 people on Friday as civilians fled the violence.

Under cover of allied Russian air power, Syrian government forces have been on a crushing offensive for three weeks on eastern Ghouta.

The weeks-long violence has left more than 1,300 civilians dead and 5,000 wounded.