Russian military spokesman Vladimir Zolotukhin said at least 11,000 people have fled the besieged area of eastern Ghouta in Syria on Saturday amid a brutal government offensive against the last rebel stronghold in the country . Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, cited similar figures of people fleeing the area. “Around 10,000 civilians streamed out of the rebel enclave into regime-held areas” on Saturday morning, Rahman said. Last month, Syrian government forces launched a major offensive in eastern Ghouta, marking one of the conflict’s bloodiest moments since the war erupted in 2011. Nearly 1,400 civilians have been killed since Damascus launched its military operation in eastern Ghouta on February 18.

Source: Egypt Independent March 18, 2018 07:41 UTC