Syria pounds eastern Ghouta

The Syrian army has effectively put two big towns in eastern Ghouta under siege by advancing into the area linking them to each other and to the rest of the rebel enclave, a war monitor said on Saturday.

Syrian state television had earlier reported that army operations were intensifying in the central part of eastern Ghouta three weeks into the government’s ferocious assault.

Both the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britainbased war monitor, and a military media unit run by the government’s ally Hezbollah said the army had captured the town of Mesraba and advanced into surrounding farms.

Mesraba lies just south of the large towns of Douma and Harasta along the road linking them to the remaining southern area in the insurgent pocket. The roads connecting the towns to each other were all covered by army fire, the Observatory said.

Jaish al-Islam and Failaq al-Rahman, the two main rebel groups in eastern Ghouta, could not be immediately reached for comment. They have said in recent days that they had staged counter attacks taking back some lost positions. The relentless three-week assault on the last major rebel stronghold near Damascus has captured about half its area and killed 976 people.

Syrian state TV showed a massive plume of dark smoke rising behind houses and trees and amid blasts.

BEIRUT: