[4] On the evening of 25 April, government forces captured the entire Bala Al-Kadhima region, approaching the villages of Harasta Al-Qantara and Hawsh Jarabo.

With this, the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta pocket, east of Damascus, was almost split in two and the rebels in Deir Al-‘Assafir and Zibdeen were close to being cut off.

[23] On 14 May, the Army and Hezbollah reportedly reached Deir al-Asafir[24] and imposed fire control over the town, after they seized the village of Hawsh Al-Khatib.

[28][29] On the morning of 19 May, government forces took full control of Deir al-Asafir and shortly after entered[30] the northeastern part of Zabdin, advancing to within 250 south of the Bala Air Defense Battalion base.

[45] Later that evening, they entered the village itself and broke through the first line of defense at nearby Al-Muhammadiyah, breaching the central region of East Ghouta for the first time since 2012.

[47] On the evening of 6 June, the Army blew up a large tunnel network connecting the Bala Farms with Al-Muhammadiyah and Beit Na’em.

[50][51] Also, on 14 June, the military captured the farmlands to the west of Hawsh al-Farah, cutting the rebel supply route to the rebel-held parts of Tal al-Sawwan.