The deterioration of the service situation forces the people of al-Ghouta to move to the neighborhoods of Damascus

 'Hundreds of families who remained in the eastern towns and villages of the Ghouta fled to the neighborhoods of Damascus and its environs after the Assad régime took control of the area amid deteriorating security, living and economic conditions, as well as the massive destruction of their homes and cities.

 "After my family and I refused to go to the north of Syria, we decided to stay and repair what I could from my house. When the Assad régime came in, things became complicated because of blackmail," said Yasin Mohammed, a resident of Douma. Elements of the régime forces threaten civilians by publicly stealing shops and homes."

 He pointed to the negligence of the Assadist public services in the city, targeted to punish the remaining civilians, by not removing the rubble and garbage from the roads, which led to the spread of odors and diseases, and fear of the spread of epidemics among civilians, after the rodent population multiplied.

 "There is no commercial movement in the markets, in addition to the difficulty of securing jobs and continuing arrests campaigns, harassment by elements of the Assad forces and the weakness of the régime's protection of civilians, and the difficulty of restoring homes and shops destroyed by bombing by the régime during the military campaign to control Ghouta."

 He stressed that the cities and towns of the eastern Ghouta were almost ghost towns, when there were about 350,000 people before the invasion by the forces of Assad and the militias supporting them, and a million and a half before the siege, while the streets of the capital Damascus and its environs are crowded 24 hours a day, as he put it.

 Adnan Maikeh, vice president of the municipal council in the city of Douma, said that the population of Douma is now about 200,000. He told the pro-regime daily Al-Watan: "Among the population, more than 100 families came from outside city, and rented homes within it."

 It is noteworthy that the Assad forces and militias supporting them, launched and supported by the aircraft of Russian aggression, a violent military attack on the cities and towns of the eastern Ghouta several months ago, resulting in the control of the area after massive destruction and dozens of massacres that claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians, including children and women, and the displacement of people to the north of Syria and housing centers in the capital Damascus.'