Rebels pull out from enclave near Damascus

Eastern Qalamoun will come under regime control; Daesh giving up area near capital

Syrian rebels began withdrawing from an enclave northeast of Damascus yesterday and will go to northern Syria, regime TV and a rebel official said, in a surrender agreement that marks another victory for Bashar Al Assad. The withdrawal will restore regime control over the eastern Qalamoun enclave, some 40km from Damascus. Al Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, is seeking to wipe out the last few rebel enclaves near Damascus, building on momentum from the defeat of the insurgency in Eastern Ghouta, which was the last major opposition stronghold near the capital.

Regime TV said rebel fighters and their families would be transported from eastern Qalamoun to Idlib and Jarablus, a rebel-held territory at the border with Turkey, with 3,200 rebels and their families expected to leave yesterday.

The spokesman for one of the rebel groups in eastern Qalamoun said the insurgents had agreed to the deal after intensified Russian shelling killed six people in areas near the town of Al Ruhaiba earlier this week.

“This made the Free (Syrian) Army factions sit at the negotiating table with the Russian side and an agreement was reached the most important articles of which are the surrender of heavy weapons and the departure of fighters to the north,” Said Saif of the Ahmad Abdo Martyr brigade said.

A first convoy of 10 buses had left Ruhaiba and was being searched in a nearby area before continuing to the north.

Meanwhile, the Syrian regime and its allies pressed the bombardment of a besieged enclave south of Damascus.

Regime TV footage showed clouds of smoke rising from the Al Hajar Al Aswad district, part of an enclave including the Palestinian Yarmouk camp that is held by Daesh and other extremist groups. Regime media said Daesh agreed to give up its last pocket in Damascus on Friday. Terrorists were given the option to stay and reconcile with the regime or leave on buses to Daesh-held territory in the eastern Syrian Desert, the SANA state news agency said. It did not say when the relocations would begin.

UNRWA, the UN agency that cares for Palestinian refugees, has said it is deeply concerned about the fate of civilians including some 12,000 Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk and the surrounding areas.

“Displacement continues with people moving to the neighbouring area of Yalda ... to escape the fighting. Some families are staying in Yarmouk, either because they cannot move due to the intensity of fighting or because they choose to remain,” UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said.