Baladi News – Damascus (Houssam Mohammad)
Hours after a calm in which the regime offered the option of transferring the rebels to northern Syria or Eastern Ghouta and settle the statuses of those who wish to stay under the rule of Assad’s regime, the regime forces and the allied militias resumed its heavy offense on Qabun neighborhood in eastern Damascus.
Sources on the ground emphasized that the rebel factions and civilian institutions in the neighborhood held consultation meetings about the articles put forward by the regime, and none of which was approved.
Inhabited by 2500 families, the neighborhood is now placed under huge military pressure in part due to the transfer of the fighters of the neighboring Barzeh neighborhood.
What also made the bad worse is the withdrawal of the fighters of Jaysh al-Islam and Tahrir al-Sham from the neighborhood towards the Eastern Ghouta, whereas Rahman brigade abstained from sending reinforcement to the afflicted area to support the rebels and civilians who had to take up arms to defend their houses.
The sources, which considered the infighting in the Eastern Ghouta as a factor in the evacuation of fighters from Barzeh, stated that Astana 4 was a well-executed trap for the rebels because it included the Ghouta in the security zones and excluded Qabun, which eventually cuts off the life vein of Ghouta and causes the prices of basic commodity to increase ten folds in a similar scenario to Darayya and Muadamiyat al-Sham.