100 die as Syria seizes 70% of rebel enclave

Adra (Syria) - The war entered its eighth year with another deadly assault unfolding in the north.

Air strikes killed dozens of civilians in Eastern Ghouta and forced thousands to flee their homes on Friday as Syrian and allied forces pressed their blistering assault on the six-year-old rebel stronghold.
At least 100 people were killed as the toll for the month-old assault near Damascus continued to mount and world powers remained unable to stop one of the seven-year conflict's worst crises.
The war entered its eighth year with another deadly assault unfolding in the north, where Turkish-led forces pressed an operation to seize the Kurdish-majority region of Afrin, sending thousands more civilians on to the roads.
The Syrian army and allied forces have recaptured 70 per cent of the territory that had been under insurgent control in the enclave of eastern Ghouta, a military statement said. Troops had seized swathes of farmland, several villages and some towns, it added.
The Syrian army, in a message broadcast on state television, urged all residents to use "corridors" to leave the enclave.
 

• MENA