Fighting rocked Syria’s Eastern Ghouta on Sunday as Western-backed rebels battled to retake territory seized in a devastating government assault on the last major opposition enclave near Damascus.
The Syrian military engaged in clashes with rebels in the eastern area of the enclave, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, after advances in recent days that saw the government seize control of 10 per cent of the region.
Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based group, said at least 12 government fighters had been killed in two areas, Al-Rihan and Shifoniya, in overnight clashes with the Jaish al-Islam rebel group.
Jaish al-Islam shares control of rebel-held parts of Eastern Ghouta with Faylaq al-Rahman and Ahrar al-Sham. Damascus and Moscow say they are trying to clear the area of “terrorists”.
Hamza Bayraqdar, a spokesman for Jaish al-Islam, said on Twitter that the group’s forces had launched “surprise attacks” against government positions.
