DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – The Syrian army has launched a ground operation against the al-Nusrah Front and other terrorist groups in the Eastern Ghouta region, wresting control over some areas.
Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam news channel reported the recapture of the Nashabeya and Hazrma areas as well as Farzat Hill by the Syrian military on Sunday.
It also said that Syrian army soldiers had advanced in al-Zariqiya as terrorists fled the region.
The fresh campaign is aimed at gaining control of the neighborhoods occupied by the terrorists in the suburbs of the capital Damascus.
The operation came one day after the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire across Syria to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations.
The resolution was adopted by 15 votes to none, after several delays and a flurry of last-minute negotiations.
"It would be naïve to think that internal Syrian questions can be solved by a resolution,” said Russia’s Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya.
He added that Russia had "supported the intentions” behind the document, but stresses that a ceasefire was not possible "without agreement from warring parties.”
He further went on to criticize the "occupational ambitions” of the US-led coalition, and added that foreign-backed militants were responsible for the humanitarian crisis that the resolution was aimed at addressing.
He also claimed that the West was conducting a "propaganda campaign” against government forces in Eastern Ghouta, where there have been intense clashes over the past week.
Eastern Ghouta near Damascus has witnessed renewed violence in the past few days, where terrorists have mounted repeated mortar attacks on the Syrian capital in the face of an imminent rout. Western powers, however, blame the Syrian government and Russia for the crisis.
The Syrian capital has seen a dramatic rise in deadly attacks over the past several days. The escalating violence comes amid international efforts to end clashes between government forces and terrorists in Eastern Ghouta.
After the ceasefire was voted for, Syria's Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja'afari stressed that his country does not need showboating sessions or the establishment of UN committees, but it only needs the current resolutions to be abided by.
He added that the people in Damascus are deeply suffering due to the actions of the terrorists positioned in the Eastern Ghouta.
"The appeals of eight million Syrians do not reach the General Secretariat or the mailboxes of Britain's and France’s representatives, but the appeals of terrorists do reach them,” he added.