BEIRUT: Syria's Eastern Ghouta, the one-time opposition stronghold on the edge of Damascus, is now almost entirely under regime control after a five-week assault that has killed more than 1,700 civilians.
Here is some background:
- Rebel base -
In July 2012, a little over a year after peaceful anti-government protests against the Syrian regime expanded into a full-scale uprising, Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels attack the capital from Ghouta.
Regime forces quickly reassert control but some areas fall to rebel groups who set up base in the large Eastern Ghouta enclave, home to about 400,000 people.
The region becomes the target of regular regime bombings and artillery strikes: markets, schools and hospitals are hit.
By 2013, government forces have imposed on Eastern Ghouta a siege that slashes access to food, medicine and other goods for several years.
- Malnutrition -
Eastern Ghouta was once the breadbasket of Damascus, providing rich harvests of apricots and vegetables to the capital.
But the siege and bombings cause crippling shortages, even if some produce is still grown locally or smuggled in. Prices soar.
Shocking images of severely malnourished children are published in October 2017, leading the UN to condemn "the deliberate starvation of civilians as a method of warfare".
The following month, the UN children's agency UNICEF says childhood malnutrition levels in the region are the highest recorded in Syria.
"Eastern Ghouta is experiencing a Middle Ages-style siege," France's UN ambassador Francois Delattre says in early January 2018.
- Blitz -
In a bid to drive out the Islamist and jihadist rebels, who are within striking distance of the capital, the Syrian regime launches a ferocious assault on February 18, 2018.
UN chief Antonio Guterres says on February 21 that Ghouta has become "hell on Earth".
The regime sends in reinforcements in early March, tightening the noose. The UN's human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein says Damascus is orchestrating an "apocalypse".
Over five weeks of near-relentless attack, more than 1,700 civilians are killed and thousands more wounded.
Buildings and streets are pulverised.
- Evacuations -
Amid international outrage and demands for a ceasefire, regime-backer Moscow on February 26 announces a daily five-hour "humanitarian pause".
Some aid is delivered but relief efforts are hampered by continuing fighting. Thousands of people start leaving via protected "corridors".
Moscow negotiates deals with rebels to also evacuate with their families to rebel-held regions elsewhere, which would allow the regime to reassert full control.
Tens of thousands are bussed out, draining the area of rebel resistance; the last rebel leader leaves on April 11 when his group also surrenders its heavy weapons in Ghouta's main town of Douma, the Observatory says.
- 'Chemical attacks' -
The Syrian regime has been accused of carrying out several attacks using chemicals such as sarin and chlorine on Eastern Ghouta, but denies responsibility.
In August 2013, hundreds of people are killed in chemical weapons strikes on Ghouta and the Moadamiyet al-Sham rebel bastion near Damascus.
A US intelligence report says more than 1,400 people were killed, including 426 children, and blames the regime.
A UN report later says there is clear evidence sarin gas was used.
In January and February 2018, residents and medical workers report more cases of suffocation around Douma, with claims that the source were attacks using chlorine.
In March, the Observatory reports that Russian air strikes, including with incendiary weapons, killed 37 civilians in the Arbin area. Moscow rejects the claims.
On April 7, the Syrian American Medical Society and Syria's White Helmets jointly say more than 40 people died in a "poisonous chlorine gas" in Douma.
Syria and its allies Russia and Iran deny any involvement. The United States and France lead international outrage and threats of retaliation against the regime.
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