Syrian government forces with Hezbollah's help captured a town near Damascus

Syrian government forces and their allies, including fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah, have captured a strategic town southeast of Damascus, a monitoring group announced, reports the news agency Patria. 

Following attacks by government forces, fierce clashes erupted and rebels were driven out of the town of Deir al-Asafir in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in the United Kingdom, announced.

With the capture of this town, rebels are now blocked in one part of Eastern Ghouta, and this could pave the way for further advances by government forces in this region, which has long been under the control of a number of rebel groups, said the Observatory's director Rami Abdulrahman.

He said that Hezbollah fighters played a key role in the attack. He also said that hundreds of families are fleeing the area due to the intensity of the clashes, writes Index.