Syria: Thousands flee Eastern Ghouta as regime captures more key towns | Middle East| News and analysis of events in the Arab world | DW | 15.03.2018

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Syria: Thousands flee Eastern Ghouta as regime captures more key towns

The Syrian army has now captured over two-thirds of eastern Ghouta. Some 12,500 people have fled from the town of Hammuriyeh, hours after it was captured by government forces.

Syrians flee eastern Ghouta (Getty Images/AFP/L. Beshara)

Thousands of Syrians fled the eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus on Thursday, as the army captured more key opposition-held pockets.

Syrian state television showed thousands of civilians carrying plastic bags filled with clothes as they fled Hammuriyeh and Jisreen, hours after the two towns were captured by government forces.

With some 12,500 people evacuated the town into government-held territory, Thursday's exodus marks the largest outflow of civilians from Eastern Ghouta since it came under government siege in 2013.

Read more: Hell on Earth rages in Syria's eastern Ghouta, while the world watches

Watch video 12:03
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12:03 mins.

'Hell on Earth': Eastern Ghouta

How far have government forces advanced into eastern Ghouta?

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces now control over 70 percent of the eastern Ghouta enclave. After stepping up its onslaught on the region around month ago, Syrian troops have:

  • Effectively splintered Eastern Ghouta three separate pockets, thereby isolating key rebel-held areas
  • Seized several key towns in the region, including Hammuriyeh, as well as swathes of farmland and factories
  • Captured the main road connecting eastern Ghouta's two largest towns, Douma and Harasta, and cutting them off from the rest of the region
  • Killed just over 1,200 people, including some 250, children in what has widely been denounced as an indiscriminate shelling campaign, backed up by Russian air support

Read more: Eastern Ghouta tragedy pits neighbors against each other

At least '800 people fleeing every hour'

Abdel-Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory said that Thursday marked the "largest exodus from the region since it fell under government siege."

Russian military general Vladimir Zolotukhin was quoted as saying that "every hour, over 800 people are leaving."

On the ground, a Syrian officer in government-held territory said he welcomed the fleeing civilians from eastern Ghouta. "Praise God...the families are coming out to suitable locations to the state's embrace," he said.

  • Man carrying wounded man in eastern Ghouta (picture-alliance/dpa/AP/Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets)

    Assault on eastern Ghouta, Syria in pictures

    Enclave under siege

    More than 1,500 people have been killed since Syrian government troops backed by Russia launched a ferocious attack on eastern Ghouta on February 18. Airstrikes have reduced much of the area near Damascus to ruins. According to the UN, there were an estimated 400,000 people trapped inside the besieged enclave without access to food and water when the offensive began.

  • Damaged buildings in Douma, eastern Ghouta (Reuters/B. Khabieh)

    Assault on eastern Ghouta, Syria in pictures

    'Hell on earth'

    The town of Douma, with its 200,000 residents, is now the only remaining Ghouta pocket still under rebel control. The full recapture of eastern Ghouta would mark a significant victory for Syrian President Bashar Assad. Referring to the month-long assault on the enclave, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanded "this hell on earth" be stopped immediately.

  • Child and man with breathing masks (Reuters/B. Khabieh)

    Assault on eastern Ghouta, Syria in pictures

    Reports of chemical attack

    According to activists and doctors in the region, several people have suffered symptoms consistent with those triggered by a chlorine gas attack and had to be treated in hospital. French President Emmanuel Macron has warned the Syrian regime that the use of chemical weapons will result in French retaliation, but the Syrian government claims it has never used this kind of munition.

  • Man inspecting remains of a missile (Reuters/B. Khabieh)

    Assault on eastern Ghouta, Syria in pictures

    300,000 killed

    A man and child look at the remains of a missile in Douma, the largest in eastern Ghouta. More than 300,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2011, when the government cracked down on protesters who were calling for the release of political prisoners and for President Assad to step down.

  • Man carrying water canisters (Reuters/B. Khabieh)

    Assault on eastern Ghouta, Syria in pictures

    'Rapid spread of malnutrition'

    Activists say people in Douma have little food or water. Marten Mylius, the emergency relief coordinator for CARE in the Middle East, told DW that "after the tunnels were destroyed and the crossings closed, the price of basic foods skyrocketed. One kilo of rice now costs $4.50 (€3.66). A lot of people cannot afford that anymore. In other words, we are witnessing a rapid spread of malnutrition."

  • Man clearing rubble (Reuters/B. Khabieh)

    Assault on eastern Ghouta, Syria in pictures

    At the mercy of the regime

    Aid access to eastern Ghouta is difficult because there is no direct route from neighboring countries. "In Idlib, for example...you can get in directly from the Turkish border. You can wait with supplies at the border and then bring in the convoy. It is much more difficult in eastern Ghouta," Mylius told DW.

    Author: Natalie Muller


The rush to deliver aid: Despite Thursday's exodus, some 400,000 people remain trapped in eastern Ghouta, as aid agencies scramble to deliver food and medicine to besieged areas.

On Thursday, a 25-truck convoy entered the isolated town of Douma with food supplies for some 26,000 hunger-stricken residents.  "This is just a little of what these families need," said the International Committee of the Red Cross, one of the bodies organizing aid deliveries to the region.

Earlier this week, sick residents from Douma were allowed to evacuate to Damascus to receive medical treatment.

'Hell on Earth': The United Nations has made repeated demands for the Syrian government to halt its brutal advance into eastern Ghouta, describing the region as "hell of Earth."

However, those demands have fallen on deaf ears, as Assad appears committed to rooting out all rebel forces from the region, which sits just to the east of Damascus.

Watch video 01:45
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Some help arrives in desperate eastern Ghouta

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dm/kms (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)

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