Syrian forces readied Sunday for a ground offensive against the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus, a monitor said, as residents of the capital braced for retaliatory shelling. President Bashar al-Assad has in recent days been sending reinforcements from across the country to the edge of Eastern Ghouta, besieged by regime troops since 2013.

"The reinforcements are complete; the attack is just waiting for a green light," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. An AFP correspondent in the Syrian capital said some residents were starting to pack bags and rent rooms outside of Damascus in anticipation of an operation now seen as imminent.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018