The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime forces had advanced to three kilometers (two miles) from Douma, the main town, after retaking "more than 25 percent" of Eastern Ghouta, in operations mostly through farmlands.
The government's advance into the last major opposition enclave near the capital, on the back of 15 days of air strikes, artillery fire and rocket attacks that are reported to have left more than 640 civilians dead, sent hundreds of residents into flight to western parts of the enclave.
The source said government forces seized a number of districts including al-Nashabiyeh and Otaya, and had "eradicated terrorist groups" on the eastern outskirts of Damascus.
They have reached the center of the enclave, to the edge of Beit Sawa, according to the Observatory.
After advances in recent days that saw the regime seize control of 10 percent of Eastern Ghouta, rebel fighters clashed with regime forces on Sunday in the eastern part of the enclave, the Observatory said.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britannia-based monitoring group, said at least 12 regime fighters had been killed in two areas, al-Rihan and Shifoniya, in overnight festivities with the Jaish al-Islam
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...rebel group.
Jaish al-Islam shares control of rebel-held parts of Eastern Ghouta with Faylaq al-Rahman and Ahrar al-Sham
...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014...
. Damascus and Moscow say they are trying to clear the area of "terrorists."
Hamza Bayraqdar, a front man for Jaish al-Islam, said on Twitter that the group's forces had launched "surprise attacks" against regime positions.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground, said rebels had retaken some parts of Shifoniya.
An AFP correspondent inside Eastern Ghouta saw hundreds of civilians on Sunday fleeing from the town of Beit Sawa in the southeast of the enclave.
The Observatory said some 2,000 civilians had fled regime shelling and festivities in eastern areas to western parts of the enclave.
Militants impose curfew in E. Ghouta, publicly punish civilians for violations -- Russian MoD
[RT] Civilians in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta are being severely punished by forces of Evil in public if they break a curfew, which was introduced to prevent them from escaping the embattled area, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.
Militants controlling the Damascus suburb have shelled a medical aid point and continuously open fire at a checkpoint in the area, Major General Vladimir Zolotukhin, a front man for the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, told news hounds on Sunday.
"At 12:50 [10:50 GMT] the forces of Evil from western suburbs of the Er-Rikhan settlement shelled a medical aid point. Six mortar shells went
kaboom!at a distance of 200-400 meters in the west," Zolotukhin said. He added that no one was injured in the attacks, unlike yesterday’s assault at the humanitarian corridor, which left three civilians maimed.
Apart from constantly attacking the corridor, forces of Evil have also introduced a curfew to coincide with the daily five-hour humanitarian pauses to prevent civilians from fleeing. They have also prohibited people from holding any public gatherings, according to the official.
"Civilians violating the rules established by the forces of Evil are severely punished in public," the general said, referring to information obtained earlier by the reconciliation center.
The Russian military has previously reported that the civilian population was being used as "human shield" by the terrorists. On Sunday, Zolotukhin said that they "hide behind the backs of the elderly, women and kiddies" while boosting their positions inside civilian infrastructure.
On Saturday, the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria warned of possible plot to sabotage the UN aid delivery to Eastern Ghouta, while people are being deprived of food and supplies. The UN convoy was scheduled to carry life-saving supplies to the embattled area on Sunday, but the delivery was postponed. "The convoy to East Ghouta is not able to proceed today," a UN official said, as cited by Rooters.
The area has seen a wave of festivities between Syrian government forces and various myrmidon groups, including Islamist factions. In February, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution proposing a 30-day humanitarian ceasefire in Syria, which does not apply to members of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(IS, formerly ISIS), al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front or any other terrorist organizations.
Just two children have managed to leave Syria's Eastern Ghouta since the introduction of the daily pause on February 27, which lasts from 9am until 2pm local time.
"The 30-day ceasefire regime by [the UN] Resolution 2401 on Syrian territory is constantly violated by illegal gangs in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Damascus and the Eastern Ghouta," the Russian Defence Ministry said.
Assad: Ghouta op against terrorists will continue in parallel with helping civilians escape
[RT] The Syrian leader vowed to continue the operation in eastern Ghouta, underlining its importance in the fight against terrorism. He said that it would be conducted in parallel with work on allowing civilians to leave the area.
"We will continue to fight terrorism... And the Ghouta operation is a continuation of the fight against terrorism," Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
said in broadcast comments to journalists. "There is no contradiction between a truce and combat operations. The progress achieved yesterday and the day before in Ghouta by the Syrian Arab Army was made during this truce."
"Therefore we must continue with the operation in parallel with opening the way for civilians to leave." An "overwhelming majority" of the civilian population in eastern Ghouta "wants to break out from terrorists’ hands," Assad said.