Damascus and Moscow are currently competing over which side would claim “victory” in Eastern Ghouta, where 73,000 civilians were evacuated after regime forces controlled 80 percent of the area. Sources close to Damascus leaked on Monday a list of around 545 names of military officials linked to the regime, including 35 Russians who had been killed in the Ghouta fighting since pro-regime forces launched their offensive on the Damascus suburb on March 18. The Hmeimim Air Base’ Facebook page reported that the air and land support provided by Russian forces in eastern Ghouta helped regime troops achieve victory in a short time. “In this war, the names of some officials will remain inscribed in history. Russian President Vladimir Putin already confirmed it during a meeting with Gen. Suheil al-Hassan,” the page wrote. On Monday, head of the Syrian regime Bashar Assad only spoke with members of the 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Republican Guard, run by his brother, Maher Assad, but did not meet with Hassan, commander of the Tiger Force, which is particularly supported by Russia. Moscow had stated earlier that it had real confidence in the ability of the Tiger Force to achieve victory in eastern Ghouta. Separately, Washington said Monday it was “deeply concerned” over the situation in Afrin in northern Syria. Turkish troops and allied Syrian militias, including the Free Syrian Army (FSA) captured the center of Afrin last Sunday, two months after launching an offensive to clear Syrian Kurdish forces from the area. The US concern came amid pledges made by Turkey to “expand its military operation to Manbij, Ayn al-Arab, Tel Abyad, Ras al-Ain and Qamishli until the corridor of towns along Syrias border region with Turkey is fully “eliminated.” "We will continue this process until we entirely eliminate this corridor, including in Manbij, Ayn al-Arab, Tal Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and Qamishli," said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Also on Monday, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura warned that Syria is heading for a catastrophic partition and could see the return of ISIS in the absence of an inclusive peace settlement.