Rif Dimashq Province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: the battles of the Vehicle Department and the vicinity of Harasta are continuing for the fifth consecutive days, where the clashes do not almost calm down, until they rage again through successive attacks through which against Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamic movement of Ahrar Al-Sham and Al-Rahman Corps, are trying to achieve advancement enables them to clamp down on the regime forces besieged with their loyal gunmen in the buildings of the Vehicle Department which is near Harasta city, amid fighting between the both parties near the governorate building near Harasta city, while the both parties do not stop neither the exchange of targeting even by the heavy machineguns or detonations, nor the exchange of shelling by tanks, artillery and mortar shells and missile launchers, with artillery shelling on the factions-held areas by the regime forces.

This ongoing fighting was accompanied by continuous and renewed raids carried out by warplanes, in which it has increased to at least 12 the number of the raids which targeted Arbin city, all of which resulted in the injury of 10 wounded at least, thus, the number of raids carried out by the warplanes since this morning, has increased to 27 raids at least, leaving about 40 wounded including children and citizen women, the bombardment also killed 4 citizens they are a man and 2 of his children as well as the children’s grandmother, thus, the death toll has increased to 42 citizens including 11 children and 4 citizen women, who were killed due to the aerial, artillery and rocket shelling on cities and town in the Eastern Ghouta since Saturday the 30th of December 2017 and until now, and the casualties are 26 citizens including 8 children, 3 citizen women and a male nurse, they were killed in raids by the warplanes on areas in Harasta city controlled by the Islamic movement of Ahrar Al-Sham and raids on Madyara town, and 16 citizens including 3 children and a citizen woman were killed by artillery and rocket shelling targeted areas in the cities of Harasta, Hamuriya, Douma and Arbin as well as the towns of Kafr Batna, Mesraba, Al-Nashabiyah and Otaya, and the aerial and artillery shelling left tens of casualties and wounded included a large number of children and citizen women, and the number of casualties may increase because of the presence of serious injuries.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored more human losses in the ranks of the regime forces and gunmen loyal to them while more fighters of the factions were killed, to raise the death toll to 38 persons, including 5 officers at least including 3 brigadiers the number of the regime forces and their allied militiamen, while it rose to 45, the number of fighters of the factions including fighter of Gulf nationality who blew himself up in a booby trapped vehicle, also tens of both parties were injured with varying severity including officers of the regime forces, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published yesterday that the factions seek to expand their control in the area and control the Vehicle Department and the governorate building in order to further secure the Eastern Ghouta and Harasta and let the fighters become free for new operations against the regime forces. This control will allow the factions to open new fronts near the vicinity of the capital Damascus, amid information obtained by the SOHR about the arrival of reinforcement of the regime forces to the area to back up the operations against the violent attacks of the factions, in an attempt to begin rebel attack to restore what they have lost and break the siege of the Vehicle Department.