As soon as he drove a Honda Civic through the streets, President Assad explained each location. "This is al-Nashabiya, the first city liberated by the Syrian army since the military campaign in Ghouta began three weeks ago," Assad said in the video.
Syrian forces regained control of the area in early March. "The city is heavily defended, seen as a front line towards Eastern Ghouta, which took several days to liberate, but defeating the terrorists was a great achievement, liberating al-Nashabiya allowing the liberation of the rest of Ghouta," President Assad further explained.
The Syrian leader drove from Damascus to meet soldiers and some civilians in Eastern Ghouta. This is his first visit to this area in many years.
"Here we can see people starting to clean up schools, they are not teachers but their actions show a very high level of community awareness" - Mr. Assad said while driving.
While the Syrian and Russian military have captured 80% of the territory of Eastern Ghouta, the rest of the suburbs of Damascus are still in the hands of the jihadist armed groups. On March 18, more than 25,000 people left the area through the humanitarian corridors.
