{"id":11080,"date":"2018-03-17T22:30:34","date_gmt":"2018-03-17T22:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/17\/advancing-syrian-troops-pile-pressure-on-rebels-in-ghouta\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:10:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:10:18","slug":"advancing-syrian-troops-pile-pressure-on-rebels-in-ghouta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/03\/17\/advancing-syrian-troops-pile-pressure-on-rebels-in-ghouta\/","title":{"rendered":"Advancing Syrian troops pile pressure on rebels in Ghouta"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BEIRUT (AP) \u2014 Syrian troops captured a major rebel stronghold east of the capital Damascus Saturday and took large parts of another, squeezing insurgents and forcing thousands to flee to regions controlled by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Oways al-Shami of the Syrian Civil Defense said troops have taken Kafr Batna and large parts of nearby Saqba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Syrian man carries two children while walking with others during an evacuation from the town of Jisreen in the southern Eastern Ghouta, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Damascus, on their way to areas under government control on March 17, 2018. (STRINGER\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The capture of Kafr Batna and parts of nearby Saqba is another blow to opposition fighters who have lost more than 70 percent of the area known as eastern Ghouta since the President Bashar Assad\u2019s forces began a crushing offensive under the cover of airstrikes on Feb. 18. The violence left nearly 1,400 people dead, more than 5,000 wounded and forced tens of thousands to seek shelter in areas under government control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intensity of the shelling and airstrikes have made it almost impossible for ambulances to move and wounded people cannot reach clinics, said Hamza Hassan, a surgeon working at one of the hospitals in eastern Ghouta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syrian state news agency SANA said the army stepped up military operations in eastern Ghouta and inflicted \u201cheavy losses on terrorist groups in personnel and military hardware.\u201d It said troops reached the center of Kafr Batna and Saqba.<\/p>\n\n\n\t