DOUMA, Syria: A new group of Syrian rebels and civilians prepared to leave Eastern Ghouta on Monday after the largest exodus yet from the opposition enclave, as talks stalled over the final pocket of resistance. Five weeks since government troops launched a ferocious offensive on Ghouta, they hold more than 90 per cent of the long-besieged opposition stronghold on the doorstep of Damascus.
The area has been ravaged by heavy bombardment and emptied by an exodus of tens of thousands of residents and negotiated withdrawals of rebels.
A convoy of more than 5,400 fighters and civilians left a pocket of territory held by the rebel group Faylaq al Rahman late on Sunday and reached northwest Syria the following day.
It was the single largest one-day evacuation yet from Eastern Ghouta, after nearly 1,000 people were bussed out from the same area on Saturday.
Russia has been deeply involved in the process, negotiating with rebels and placing masked military escorts aboard buses leaving Ghouta.
More pull-outs were expected from the towns of Arbin and Zamalka and the neighbouring district of Jobar, all held by Faylaq al Rahman.
The group’s spokesman Wael Alwan on Monday confirmed that “the evacuations are continuing today”, but could not provide detailed numbers.
More buses were ready on Monday to take around 1,100 people, including fighters and several hundred children, out of the same area, according to state media.
The departures are part of a deal reached with the rebel group last week.
The government has repeatedly used such “reconciliation deals” to recapture territory lost during the seven-year war.
Eastern Ghouta lies within mortar range of Damascus, and rebels there had threatened to seize the capital.
The government responded by imposing a crippling half-decade siege on the suburb’s 400,000 residents, sealing off access to food, medicine and other goods.
On February 18, the government, Russia and loyalist militia launched an all-out assault, using air strikes and a sweeping ground assault to corner rebels in three isolated pockets.
More than 1,600 civilians have been killed in the operation, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor.
To help the government capture the rest, Moscow began talks with the rebels in each area.
The first agreement, with hardline group Ahrar al Sham, saw more than 4,500 people including rebels leave the town of Harasta last week.
The deal with Faylaq al Rahman last Friday has so far seen 6,400 people leave the pocket it controls, putting the government within reach of securing the second-last part of the former rebel stronghold.
The convoy of 81 buses that left late on Sunday began arriving at a staging ground on the edge of opposition territory in northwest Syria on Monday afternoon.
Dozens of people had been waiting since early morning for the arrival of relatives and friends who were bussed out of Ghouta.
“I’m waiting for my wife’s parents who were besieged. We’ve missed them so much,” said Abu al Laith, who himself was evacuated 10 months ago from another Damascus district.
A third set of talks is ongoing over the final pocket, controlled by Jaish al Islam and including the largest town in the area, Douma.
But unlike the others, that deal could see Jaish al Islam remain in Douma.
“The ongoing negotiations with Russia are to stay in Douma, not to leave it,” said Jaish al Islam spokesman Hamza Bayraqdar, without providing further details.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the deal could see Jaish al Islam lay down heavy weapons in exchange for the return of government-provided water and electricity to the town. Russian military police, but not Syria’s army, would deploy there.
— Agencies
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