The fight by Syrian government forces to recapture Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus in the hands of rebels, is likely to be long and bloody due to the presence of thousands of hardened fighters who have had years to prepare, according to the AP agency.
There are more than 20.000 fighters in Eastern Ghouta, several hundred of them from the Committee for the Liberation of the Levant, a group linked to Al Qaeda, giving the Syrian government an excuse to continue attacks. Rebel factions operating in that suburb want al-Qaeda-linked fighters to leave the enclave and blame government forces for preventing it, AP reports.
Many of the fighters in Eastern Ghouta originate from the area and move using a large network of underground tunnels, giving them an advantage over the forces of Bashar al-Assad and their Russian and Iranian-backed allies.
The area, with about 400.00 inhabitants, is the last area under opposition control near Assad's center of power, Damascus, from where the rebels are shelling the capital. If government forces recapture Eastern Ghouta, then only a small pocket south of Damascus held by the Islamic State will remain outside government control.
The daily humanitarian truce in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta that was declared by Russia on Tuesday was immediately called into question and the two sides immediately began accusing each other of violating it.
The continuation of fighting between the Syrian army and rebels calls into question the truce in that rebel enclave, where almost 600 civilians died in six days of bombing and shelling by Syrian government forces, according to the Agence France-Presse.
A truce was declared to allow aid to enter or residents or the wounded to leave the enclave.
The ceasefire was announced four days after the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire without delay for all of Syria, a country at war since March 15, 2011. That truce was not respected either and had no effect.
After a relatively quiet night between Monday and Tuesday, government forces' aviation and artillery bombarded the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta again on Tuesday, a large area with two-thirds of its territory in the hands of pro-government forces.
At the same time, the official Syrian news agency Sana reported that rebels from the enclave are targeting government forces in Damascus as well as the humanitarian corridor near the Al Wafidian sector to prevent civilians from leaving the enclave.
The Russian military relayed the accusations and said rebels had launched an "offensive" against pro-government positions in Ghouta during the humanitarian ceasefire.
On Tuesday, Russian General Viktor Pankov accused the rebels of opening fire on the humanitarian corridor that was opened by Russian soldiers at 9.00:XNUMX a.m. The UN also confirmed the continuation of the conflict in Eastern Ghouta and that this prevents the delivery of humanitarian aid and the eventual evacuation of civilians and the injured.
The UN Security Council will meet this afternoon to discuss the humanitarian situation in Syria.
For the commander of US forces in the Middle East, General Joseph Votel, Russia is simultaneously playing the role of "arsonist and firefighter", which is "very destabilizing". Russia should "admit that it is unable to end the Syrian conflict, or it does not want to end it," the American general said.
That stance reflects deep differences within the international community over the conflict, which will enter its eighth year on March 15 with no resolution in sight.
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