The Syrian Arab Army has today made significant gains, as its campaign to liberate the eastern Damascus suburb of East Ghouta carries forward. With the exception of another small pocket, the final liberation - which we expect any day - of East Ghouta will represent the total annihilation of terrorist invader forces in the greater Damascus area. Today the SAA captured Rayhan and Hamouriyah.

More than 3000 civilians were evacuated thanks to the opening of a new humanitarian corridor before SAA secured Hamouriyah. 70% of the former Ghouta pocket is now under SAA control.
ghouta map
Click to enlarge map.

Getting yourself acquainted with the above map, we can see the critical developments which are immediately apparent. The center most and smallest pocket will fall at any moment, and if this were a normal conflict, we'd expect to see a surrender here. However, in light of the larger geopolitical and diplomatic row ongoing surrounding the Skripal case and the crisis at the UN Security Council, there is no doubt that these events are related. The US will attempt to push for a cease-fire as a side-agreement. The 'UN' will be brought into bring critical supplies in the form of food and 'dual use' equipment, if such an agreement is wrung out of the present international diplomatic crisis.

We should understand that the US has used similar moves in the past, though the present level of hyperbole, threats, and real stakes are higher now than ever before. Greater Damascus is on the verge of total liberation, a huge benchmark in this conflict which has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands, and displaced millions of Syrians into Lebanon, Turkey, and Europe combined.

As we can see, rather than making two spheres, a central isolated sphere was the opted for tactic. This creates a larger gap between the two larger spheres (or pockets), without having had to deal with yet neutralizing the reinforced artillery position which exists in the central sphere. This little island will fall soon, but we might expect more work to be down whittling down the larger separate pockets before that is completed.

All Syrian bases are now fully liberated with plenty of operational space around them, and will be fully utilized in this week's upcoming fighting.

In the below video, we see an interview with two men who were among the thousands who got out of Hammouriyeh today after the SAA liberated the area. With subtitles, see how they talk about how the so-called rebels killed anyone who protested against them and how they hoarded food aid and sold it at unaffordable prices.


On the Afrin Front

Turkish-led invaders captured around 15 villages from the YPG in massive operations today. Turkish-led invaders suffered at least 30 dead, they report. Real numbers cannot be verified. The YPG do not have SDF reinforcements as the latter have committed not to engage directly with Turkey under US orders. The presence of high numbers of US nationals fighting in PMC's is therefore further corroborated. The YPG are shown incapable of holding onto physical territories, and without assistance, can only carry out guerrilla type operations of the harassment type. This map below illustrates Turkey's big moves today. Click on it to see full size.
afrin map
As an aside, we have received an unconfirmed report that a US helicopter, type CH-47 crashed moments ago near al-Qaim in Iraq's Anbar province.
Joaquin Flores is Editor-in-Chief of Fort Russ News, as well as the Director of the Belgrade based think-tank, the Center for Syncretic Studies. Educated at California State University, Los Angeles, in the field of International Relations, he previously served as Chief Negotiator and Internal Organizer in several jurisdictions for the SEIU labor union in California. Flores has twenty years experience in community, labor, and anti-war organizing. Flores has appeared regularly on Iran's 'PressTV' and Russia's 'RT' news to share his expert opinion and analysis on current geopolitical matters.