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BEIRUT: Fighting between opposition groups in the biggest insurgent stronghold near the Syrian capital Damascus entered a second day on Saturday, while regime forces pressed an offensive against the besieged enclave, a war monitor said.
The clashes broke out in part of the densely populated rural area east of Damascus known as Eastern Ghouta, which has been besieged by Syrian regime forces since 2013.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of at least 38 fighters in the first 24 hours of fighting between opposition groups. It also reported civilian casualties.
Jaish Al-Islam is pitted against the Failaq Al-Rahman group and fighters from an alliance with links to Al-Qaeda, said opposition fighters, activists and the Observatory.
Fighting between the groups killed hundreds of people last April before a cease-fire was agreed in Qatar in May.
The rift was exploited by Syrian regime forces to capture parts of Eastern Ghouta, whose territory shrank by about a third in the second half of last year.
Jaish Al-Islam is one of the biggest Syrian opposition groups and has been the dominant faction in Eastern Ghouta. Its leader, Zahran Alloush, was killed in an airstrike in December 2015.
A Failaq Al-Rahman statement on Friday said Jaish Al-Islam attacked some of its positions and said the factional fighting was not in the interests of Eastern Ghouta or the Syrian revolution.
A statement by Jaish Al-Islam said its dispute was with the group called Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (Liberation of the Levant Committee), which had been obstructing Jaish Al-Islam members from going about their business.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham is an alliance of factions formed in January, whose members include Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham, formerly Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front group.
Jaish Al-Islam said it shared the same goals as Failaq Al-Rahman and called on them to contain the crisis.
During the fighting, the regime and allied forces attacked the opposition-held district of Qaboun by land and air.