Syrian government forces launched a ground assault on the edge of the rebel-held eastern Ghouta enclave on Wednesday, seeking to gain
territory despite a Russian plan for five-hour daily ceasefires, a war
monitor and sources on both sides said.Find the more
World news from SHINE.
Hundreds of people have died in 11 days of bombing of the eastern Ghouta, a swathe of towns and farms outside Damascus that is the last
major rebel-controlled area near the capital.
The onslaught has been one of the fiercest of Syria’s civil war, now entering its eighth year.
The U.N. Security Council, including President Bashar al-Assad’s strongest ally Russia, passed a resolution on Saturday calling for a
30-day countrywide ceasefire. But the measure has not taken effect, with
Moscow and Damascus saying they are battling members of terrorist
groups excluded from the truce.
Russia has instead called for daily five-hour local ceasefires to establish what it calls a humanitarian corridor so aid can enter the
enclave and civilians and wounded can leave.
The first such truce took place on Tuesday but quickly collapsed when bombing and shelling resumed after a short lull.
There were no air strikes during Wednesday’s five-hour ceasefire, but heavy bombardment resumed in the afternoon, the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights monitoring group reported. There has been no sign of aid
deliveries to the besieged area.
President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had managed to evacuate “quite a big group” of civilians and that Turkish President Tayyip
Erdogan had helped broker the evacuation. He did not say when the
civilians had managed to leave.
State-run Anadolu news agency quoted Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin as saying Erdogan had asked for the evacuation of around
700 people from eastern Ghouta a month ago. Kalin said Russia told
Turkey the civilians had been taken to southern Damascus a week later,
despite Erdogan’s request for them to receive treatment in Turkey.Moscow
and Damascus have accused rebels of shelling the corridor to prevent
people leaving. Rebels deny this, and say people will not depart eastern
Ghouta because they fear the government.
Wednesday’s ground assault targeted the Hawsh al-Dawahra area at the eastern edge of the enclave.
The Observatory reported advances by the government forces in the area, describing it as the resumption of an assault that first began on
Feb. 25. It said rebels had inflicted heavy losses on government forces.
