According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, heavy fighting is ongoing in Eastern Ghouta, a region near the capital of Damascus, with Syrian military forces seizing some farmland south-east of the town of Hosh al-Fara, a rebel-held area.
Eastern Ghouta has been rebel-dominated for much of the Syrian Civil War, though in recent months the Syrian military has managed to retake certain parts of the area. This included the town of Maydaa, captured earlier this month, which served as a key supply route for the rebels in the region.
Jaish al-Islam, the main rebel faction in Eastern Ghouta, confirmed the military is waging a “very big attack” against the area, but denied that they had lost significant territory in the fighting. The Observatory suggested the area was a major base for Jaish al-Islam.
While a lot of the focus of the Syrian military, at the behest of Russia, has been recovering territory along the coast in recent months, retaking the entire perimeter of Damascus is also likely a high priority for the Assad government. Damascus has faced attacks throughout the war, though only suburbs have ever fallen to rebel factions.
July 19, 2016 CIA Rebels Behead Kid And Other U.S. Successes in Syria
The U.S. “regime change” operation in Syria recently tallied up some major successes. The Syrian Democratic Force, a U.S. sponsored group of mostly Syrian Kurds, is besieging the Islamic State held eastern city of Manbij. According to the UN’s Human Rights commissioner 70,000 civilians in Manbij are cut off from all supplies.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45144.htm
July 20th, 2016 US air strike in Syria kills nearly 60 civilians ‘mistaken for Isil fighters’
A US air strike killed nearly 60 civilians, including children, in Syria on Tuesday after the coalition mistook them for Islamic State fighters. Some eight families were hit as they tried to flee fighting in their area, in one of the single deadliest strikes on civilians by the alliance since the start of its operations in the war-torn country. It is thought Tuesday’s bombing was among the first by jets taking off from Incirlik air base in Turkey since it reopened after the failed coup.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/19/us-air-strike-in-syria-kills-up-to-85-civilians-mistaken-for-isi/