A Syrian commander reportedly said pro-government forces were advancing methodically against militants in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, which anti-Damascus militants have been using to launch attacks on civilians in the Syrian capital.
The commander told Reuters on Friday that army troops had retaken some villages on Eastern Ghouta’s Maraj area and made “notable” advances on the western edge of the Harasta area.
He said the forces were moving one neighborhood or village at a time.
An elite government unit known as the Tiger Force is involved in the Eastern Ghouta operations.
Meanwhile, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the pro-Damascus forces had recaptured a number of buildings in Harasta. The UK-based monitoring group also said that the Syrian forces had wrested control of the Eastren Ghouta villages of Hawsh al-Dawahra and Hawsh Zreika in addition to hills and farmland.
From inside Eastern Ghouta, foreign-backed militants have been launching indiscriminate mortar and rocket attacks on the capital, which have resulted in the death of a number of civilians.
But there are civilians in Eastern Ghouta, too. Russia, which is giving Syria advisory military help, has established humanitarian corridors to allow the civilians out.
Syria’s official SANA news agency reported on Friday that the al-Nusra Front and other terrorist outfits were preventing civilians from leaving Eastern Ghouta through the safe corridors.
Source: Press TV
