Troops advance in rebel-held Ghouta

NO CIVILIANS HAVE EXITED GHOUTA THROUGH THE HUMANITARIAN CORRIDOR SET UP BY RUSSIA AND THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT NEARLY A WEEK AGO

: Syrian troops and allied militias have captured a number of villages and towns in a rebelheld region near the capital, in the largest advance since a widescale offensive began last month, state media and activists reported on Sunday.

Syria’s Central Military Media said government forces captured at least six villages and towns along the edge of eastern Ghouta in the advance that began late Saturday.

A reporter from the state-run Al-Ikhbariyah TV, who accompanied the troops, broadcast from Nashabiyah, a village on the southeastern edge of eastern Ghouta.

The reporter said the Syrian troops had crossed a “moat” and seized around 12 square kilometres. The advance was backed by intense shelling and airstrikes. Rebel factions launched a counteroffensive, sending fighters behind government lines in a series of attacks.

TURKEY TIGHTENS GRIP ON KURDISH ENCLAVE

Turkish troops have captured a strategic village in the Kurdishheld enclave in northwestern Syria, tightening its grip on Kurdish militia in the sixth week of its offensive on the area.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the Kurdish Afrin district has been “surrounded” by the military, special police and paramilitary forces, as well as allied Syrian opposition fighters.

“Afrin has been surrounded. We have cleared all areas near our borders of terror nests,” he said at a rally in the central province of Konya.