Syrian government forces have captured more than half of eastern Ghouta, a pocket of satellite towns and densely populated farmland where the United Nations says 400,000 civilians have lived under siege since 2013. Advances in recent days have cut off the major towns Douma and Harasta from each other and neighboring areas, splitting eastern Ghouta into separate enclaves. The group had said on Monday it had reached an agreement, through the United Nations, with the government’s key ally, Russia, to evacuate wounded people. The United Nations has called for the urgent evacuation of 1,000 patients in need of emergency medical care. It says it is worried about the entire population of the eastern Ghouta, where food and medicine were already running out before the assault began in mid-February.

Source: bd News24 March 13, 2018 09:33 UTC