(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian activists are reporting heavy clashes between regime forces and rebels in the eastern suburbs of Damascus amid reports of opposition gains.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syria-based activist Mazen al-Shami said Monday's fighting was concentrated inside a military installation near the suburb of Harasta, where a regime force has been trapped for a day.
Zaman al-Wasl local reporter said at least 18 regime troops including 4 officers were killed in the clashes of al-Murakabat base, the de-facto regime's military operation room for Ghouta offensive.
The Observatory said the Syrian air force conducted at least a dozen airstrikes on Harasta and nearby suburbs. Al-Shami reported dozens of airstrikes. He said the government brought in reinforcements overnight and is trying to reach the trapped force.
The Observatory said three days of violence in the suburbs of Damascus known as eastern Ghouta has killed 35 civilians, as well as 24 government troops and 29 rebel fighters.
Over the past 48 hours, at least 19 civilians killed in besieged Eastern Ghouta suburbs, local activists said.
The regime air force conducted more than 60 raids in the past 72 hours, pounding most of the eastern suburbs of the capital amid reports of major attack to overrun the embattled enclave, according to local reporter.
Eastern Ghouta is a densely populated pocket of towns and farms and the only major rebel stronghold near the capital Damascus. The military has steadily defeated pockets of armed rebellion in western Syria over the past year, with the help of Russian air power and Iranian-backed militias.
Although Eastern Ghouta is officially a “de-escalation zone” under Russian-led ceasefire deals for rebel territory, fighting there has continued. The population, including 130,000 children, is suffering the worst malnutrition seen in the almost seven-year war, the U.N. has said.
Residents and aid workers said the regime has tightened the siege in recent months in what they called a deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war, a charge the government denies. (With Agencies)
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