Monitor says Syria seizes half of rebel-held eastern Ghouta

A Syria war monitor says that Syrian government troops and allied militias have seized half of the territory held by rebels in the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that troops have effectively split the besieged enclave in two halves after seizing the town of Beit Sawa and surround farmland and reaching the outskirts of Madeira and Hammouriyeh.

By slicing the territory in two halves — a southern and northern part — the Syrian government succeeds in further squeezing rebels and tens of thousands of civilians trapped inside.

The Syrian troops are backed in their massive air and ground assault on eastern Ghouta by Russian air cover. Around 400,000 people are believed to be trapped in eastern Ghouta.

— AP