A Syrian soldier flashes a victory sign in Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside, Syria, on March 10, 2018. The Syrian government forces on Saturday captured the strategic town of Mesraba and encircled the city of Harasta in Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside, according to War Media, the media wing of the Syrian army. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)
DAMASCUS, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian government forces on Saturday captured the strategic town of Mesraba and encircled the city of Harasta in Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside, according to War Media, the media wing of the Syrian army.
The rebel-held city of Harasta in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside has become encircled by the fire of the Syrian army, following the military progress in Eastern Ghouta, said the report.
The achievement of exposing the entire surrounding of Harasta to the fire of the Syrian army comes after the Syrian government forces captured areas near the road between Harasta and the Douma district in Eastern Ghouta, said the report.
Harasta was one of the earliest rebel-held cities in Syria and was reported under rebel control by early 2012.
The rebels in that city have also triggered the recent wide-scale military offensive in Eastern Ghouta, when the attacked a key military base in Harasta in January of this year, prompting the Syrian forces to start preparing a massive offensive to eliminate the rebels' threats in Ghouta.
Also Saturday, the Syrian forces captured the town of Mesraba, a strategic area in the central part of Eastern Ghouta, which enables the Syrian army to tighten its recent move of splitting Eastern Ghouta in half as it links several towns and areas in Eastern Ghouta with one another.
The Syrian army has captured 52 percent of Eastern Ghouta in recent days, as part of an ongoing wide-scale offensive to dislodge the rebels from that key area on the eastern rim of Damascus.
Eastern Ghouta, a 105 square km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus and their ongoing mortar attacks that target residential areas in the capital, pushing people over the edge.
Four major rebel groups are currently positioned inside Eastern Ghouta, namely the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham and the Levant Liberation Committee, otherwise known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.
The UN humanitarian agencies have sounded the alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation for 400,000 people live in that region, where activists said over 800 people have been killed since late last month by the heavy bombardment and military showdown in areas of Eastern Ghouta.
The Russians have backed a daily five-hour-long humanitarian pause to allow civilians to leave rebel-held areas in Eastern Ghouta toward government-controlled ones, with Syrian helicopters dropping leaflets over that area to guide the people out.
But since entering into force late last month, no major evacuation took place in Eastern Ghouta, with the Syrian government accusing the rebels of targeting the civilians who are attempting to leave.
A day earlier, 13 rebels of al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front left Eastern Ghouta, marking the first rebel group to leave that area, just two days after the Russian side pledged to secure a safe exit for the rebels and their families from Eastern Ghouta.
