Russian drone filmes airstrikes on 'dead' Damascus

Missiles pounding houses in the "dead" Syrian capital of Damascus have been filmed by a drone, as Russia refuses UN calls to cease its bombing campaign in the face of peace talks.

The commercial drone flew over the city suburb of Darayya, showing a devastated and eerily quiet expanse of ruined apartments, bombed out houses and collapsed roofs.

The only sign of life seen is an apparently camouflaged armoured car, making its way along a dirt road past ruined homes.

Bombs striking buildings are shown in timelapse footage, as the drone flies through the explosions’ dust and smoke.

The footage was filmed by drone company RussiaWorks and uploaded on January 26.

It is unknown who is responsible for the airstrikes, as Darayya has changed hands multiple times between government forces and militants opposed to President Bashar Al-Assad since civil war broke out in early 2011.

The suburb has become so devastated by bombings it has been referred to as "Syria's Stalingrad", in reference to the Soviet city destroyed by German bombing during WWII.

Civil war has raged in Syria since March 2011, killing more than 200,000 and forcing more than three million to flee the country, according to the United Nations.

Russia began an intervention to support Assad on September 30, launching bombing raids and air strikes against rebels and Islamic State.

Moscow is co-ordinating the strikes with the Syrian government, unlike the US-led bombing campaign against IS, which France has recently stepped up in response to the Paris attacks.

The United Nations is straining to keep faltering Syrian peace talks alive as Damascus tried to press home gains against rebels and its ally Russia said its air strikes would go on until "terrorists" were defeated.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura announced the formal start on Monday of the first attempt in two years to negotiate an end to the war.

But both opposition and government representatives have since said talks have not in fact begun, and fighting on the ground has raged on without constraint.

De Mistura acknowledged yesterday a collapse of the Geneva talks was always possible.

Despite calls from the US and its allies for Moscow to stop the bombing during the peace process, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country had no intention of ending its campaign.

"Russian strikes will not cease until we really defeat terrorist organisations like Jabhat al-Nusra. And I don't see why these air strikes should be stopped," he said.

The opposition has said it will not negotiate unless the government stops bombarding civilian areas, lifts blockades on besieged towns and releases detainees.

"The level of confidence between both sides is close to zero," de Mistura told the BBC late on Tuesday.