Despite a drop in intensity, shelling and bombardment in the Syrian capital and its embattled eastern suburbs killed at least six people overnight following the UN Security Council's unanimous approval of a resolution demanding a 30-day cease-fire across Syria, opposition activists and residents of Damascus said.
Attacks on residential areas appear to have shifted to strikes on front lines where some of the most intense fighting took place throughout the day between government forces and their allies against insurgents.
State media said that troops pushed into the eastern suburbs, reports that the opposition denied.
Opposition activists reported clashes on the southern edge of the rebel-held suburbs, known as eastern Ghouta, and two airstrikes late on Saturday night, local time, shortly after the resolution was adopted.
During the day Sunday (local time), more shelling and airstrikes were reported in eastern Ghouta and Damascus.
The drop in violence came after a week of intense airstrikes and shelling that killed more than 500 people in eastern Ghouta and left dozens dead or wounded in the government-held Damascus, which rebels pelted with mortar shells.
"This has been the calmest night since last Sunday," said Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, referring to the start of the bombing campaign on February 19.
He added that clashes between troops and rebels on Sunday were the most intense this month.
Syrian state TV said that the army captured several buildings in the rebel-held suburb of Harasta and pushed into several other areas on eastern Ghouta that is besieged by government forces from all sides.
It also said that troops captured the small towns of Nashabiyeh, Hazrama and Housh al-Salihiyah on the southeastern edge of eastern Ghouta.
The Ghouta Media centre, an activist collective, said members of the Army of Islam insurgent group repelled the Syrian army's attacks on several fronts adding that many soldiers were killed.
The attack was launched on a facility between Hama and Homs.
The push by the army, although still limited, appears to be similar to steps taken in rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods of the northern city of Aleppo that government forces captured one after another until rebels eventually agreed to leave the city in December 2016, marking President Bashar Assad's biggest victory since the conflict began in 2011.
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