President Bashar Assad, in a statement to reporters in Damascus, vowed to continue an offensive in eastern Ghouta, as his forces advanced into the last major rebel enclave near the Syrian capital. “There is no contradiction between a truce and combat operations. The progress achieved yesterday and the day before in Ghouta by the Syrian Arab Army was made during this truce.” / “Therefore, we must continue with the operation in parallel with opening the way for civilians to leave,” Syrian President Bashar Assad said.
Assad’s military presses on despite Western calls for it to abide by a 30-day, countrywide ceasefire, that was demanded by the United Nations Security Council. Nevertheless, as militant Islamists continue firing mortar shells toward civilian neighborhoods in Damascus, the Syrian President has vowed to push his military’s advance to eradicate the militants, a majority of whom are part of Ahrar al-Sham, an Islamist organization with links to Al-Qaeda. The advances have forced thousands of civilians to flee deeper into the rebel-held territory, where some 400,000 people live, even though the Russian have established “humanitarian corridors,” from which civilians could leave eastern-Ghouta to other areas within the war-torn-country. A Russian source told TV7 that while Moscow has followed through on establishing a humanitarian corridor for several days, civilians seeking to flee eastern-Ghouta are held back by the Islamist militants controlling the territory, in what appears to be a strategic-decision to assure a high-civilian death toll, that will lead to increased international pressure on Damascus.