Government forces take town east of Damascus on rebel supply route

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government and allied forces took control of a rebel-held town east of Damascus on Saturday after a 12-day battle, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, compromising a supply route into opposition territory. Maydaa was the easternmost outpost of the rebel-held bloc of territory in Eastern Ghouta and was used as a supply route into the area for weapons and money, the Britain-based Observatory said. It was the last rebel-held bit of territory before the rebel-held town of Dumeir to the east, from which it was separated by a stretch of government-controlled land. Maydaa had been under the control of the powerful Jaish al Islam rebel faction and was the group's closest position to Dumeir military airport, where they are fighting to displace government forces. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Catherine Evans)