<div><br />''</div>''<div>Syrian regime and allied forces pushed deeper into Eastern Ghouta today and have now retaken a third of the rebel enclave.&nbsp;</div>''<div><br />''</div>''<div>The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said regime forces now control 33 per cent, or a third, of besieged Eastern Ghouta.&nbsp;</div>''<div><br />''</div>''<div>The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, said, regime forces are advancing at a high pace because operations so far are mostly conducted in farmland.&nbsp;</div>''<div><br />''</div>''<div>He said, pro-government forces were now two kilometres south-east of Douma, the main town in Eastern Ghouta, a semi-rural area that lies within mortar range of central Damascus.&nbsp;</div>''<div><br />''</div>''<div>The government lost control of Eastern Ghouta in 2012 and has besieged the area, which is now controlled by Islamist groups, almost ever since.&nbsp;</div>''<div><br />''</div>''<div>Government forces have over the years clawed back nearly two-thirds of the territory they lost just east of Damascus in 2012.&nbsp;</div>''<div><br />''</div>''<div>President Bashar al-Assad vowed yesterday that his forces would continue the latest campaign until the whole area is retaken.</div>