The Syrian regime and allied forces have taken control of more than two-thirds of the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus, a monitor said on Thursday.

“The regime controls more than 70 per cent of besieged Eastern Ghouta,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

Earlier, Syria's army had captured the key town of Hammuriyeh in a southern pocket of Eastern Ghouta after rebels pulled back and thousands of residents fled.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Hammuriyeh fell to regime forces after rebels from Faylaq al-Rahman withdrew.