Background
With most of the suburbs of Damascus recaptured by the Syrian government by February 2018, there remained a significant swathe of the countryside near the capital city captured by fundamentalist rebels from the mainstream ones in 2012 that had been under siege by pro-government forces since 2013.[36] The rebels used to shell the capital daily and tried to infiltrate it many times.[9]
Syrian forces began bombarding and shelling the area in early February after Russian-brokered peace talks failed, killing 200 by 8 February, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.[37] They again started bombarding it on 18 February, and did so for eight consecutive days before beginning the ground offensive.[38]
The main rebel faction in the area was Jaysh al-Islam, based in Douma (with an estimated 10,000–15,000 fighters in the region in early 2018).[39] The second largest was Faylaq al-Rahman, an official affiliate of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), controlling much of central and western parts of Ghouta, including the Jobar and Ain Terma districts.[40] In addition, Ahrar al-Sham (based in Harasta) and Tahrir al-Sham (HTS – controlling smaller districts such as Arbin,
Hawsh Al-Ash'ari and
Bait Naim, with an estimated strength in the area of 500 in February 2018[41]) had a far smaller presence.[38][40][42]
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