Ghouta evacuations continue in droves
Rebel group Failaq Al Rahman pulls out of Arbeen, Zamalka and Jobar neighbourhoods
Anew group of Syrian rebels and civilians prepared to leave Eastern Ghouta yesterday after the largest exodus yet from the opposition enclave, as talks stalled over the final pocket of resistance.
Five weeks since regime 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 a mass exodus of tens of thousands of residents and negotiated withdrawals of rebel fighters.
Late Sunday, more than 5,400 rebels, their relatives and other civilians were bussed out of a pocket of territory held by Islamist rebel group Failaq Al Rahman, state media reported.
It was the single largest one-day evacuation yet from Eastern Ghouta, after nearly 1,000 people were bussed out from the same areas on Saturday.
More pull-outs were expected yesterday from the towns of Arbeen and Zamalka and the neighbouring district of Jobar, all held by Failaq Al Rahman.
The group’s spokesman Wael Alwan yesterday confirmed that “the evacuations are continuing today”, but could not provide detailed numbers. State news agency SANA said 10 buses were ready yesterday to take around 600 people including fighters and more than 200 children out of areas controlled by the Islamist rebel group.
The departures are part of a deal reached with the rebel group last week.
The regime has repeatedly used such “reconciliation deals” to recapture territory lost to rebels during Syria’s seven-year war.
Eastern Ghouta lies within mortar range of Damascus, and rebels there had threatened to seize the capital from Bashar Al Assad.
The regime responded by imposing a crippling halfdecade siege on the suburb’s 400,000 residents, sealing off their access to food, medicine and other goods.