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28 Syrian Regime Members Killed in Ambush near Damascus | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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A Syrian rebel fighter fires a weapon in Ain Terma, Eastern Ghouta, east of the capital Damascus. (AFP)


London – Twenty-eight members of the Syrian regime were killed on Thursday and a number of others were injured in an ambush by one of the armed factions in the Eastern Ghouta region near the capital Damascus, announced the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Head of the London-based Observatory Rami Abdulrahman said that the ambush was staged when the regime forces were attempting to wage an attack.

The forces came under attack by the Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) rebel group as they attempted to advance in the town of Al-Rihan, he added according to Agence France Presse.

The Eastern Ghouta region is a major rebel stronghold near the capital and it has been the frequent target of regime operations.

Abdulrahman said rebels opened fire on the regime forces as they entered an area where the opposition fighters had planted mines.

He said the ambush was the deadliest incident for the regime in Eastern Ghouta since February 2016, when 76 of its members were killed in Tal Sawane.

The Observatory predicted that the death toll from Thursday’s ambush will rise.

The Syrian regime was not immediately available for comment, reported Reuters.

Eastern Ghouta is in one of the four proposed “de-escalation zones” designated in an agreement reached by regime allies Iran and Russia and rebel backer Turkey in May.

In recent weeks, regime warplanes have bombed the Ain Terma area that links Eastern Ghouta to the rebel-held parts of the Damascus neighborhood of Jobar.