10,000 Civilians Evacuate Damascus' Eastern Ghouta

Date: 17 March 2018 - 21:39

News ID: ۵۱۲۷۲

DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – As many as 10,000 civilians evacuated terrorist-held areas in the Syrian capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta area on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
The mass evacuation took place through two crossings, one in the Hamouriyeh area and the other is near the Water Resources facility in Harasta area in Eastern Ghouta.
The state TV aired live footage of the mass evacuation of people, showing people chanting for the Syrian army as they were leaving.
The evacuation is ongoing and is the latest in a series of mass evacuation as the people have fled terrorist-held areas in Eastern Ghouta in droves since Thursday.
Such process was possible due to the advance of the Syrian army inside Eastern Ghouta, as people said the terrorists have prevented them from leaving before and the progress of the army opened this road for them.
Syrian government troops have regained the control of 70 percent of terrorist-held areas in Eastern Ghouta near the capital Damascus.
The army said in a statement that the forces had recaptured farmland, several villages and some towns.
Reports said Syrian army troops had advanced against foreign-backed militants in Eastern Ghouta, retaking the town of Jisreen.
"The Syrian army is continuing its operations in Eastern Ghouta and gained control of Jisreen town," said a military media unit run by Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement, which has been helping Syria's army in its fight against terrorists.
The Syrian army, backed by Russian air cover, is conducting an operation against the terrorists holed up in the Damascus suburb and, at the same time, evacuating civilians through humanitarian corridors.
Eastern Ghouta fell to terrorists in 2012, months after Syria plunged into crisis, and has since served as a launch pad for fatal mortar attacks against residents and infrastructure in the capital.
The Syrian army has since mid-February been engaged in a push to liberate the region, which is controlled by a collection of militant groups, most notably the Takfiri terror groups of Jaish al-Islam and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, commonly known as al-Nusra Front.
The army’s statement also urged people in Eastern Ghouta to come out of the remaining terrorist-held areas.