FORTY-THREE DIE IN MORTAR ATTACK ON CROWDED MARKET IN DAMASCUS

▶ Syrian rebels agree to evacuation deal in Eastern Ghouta town, as Al Assad blames them for the carnage

One of the deadliest attacks on Damascus since the start of the seven-year war in Syria killed at least 43 people yesterday, while fighting continued elsewhere in the country.

The mortar assault struck a busy market on the eve of Mother’s Day, witnesses said. Eleven pro-regime fighters were said to be among the dead.

President Bashar Al Assad’s government blamed the attack on rebels in Eastern Ghouta, which Syrian troops and Russian war planes have pounded in a month-long offensive killing thousands of civilians, including children.

Videos of the mortar bombardment’s aftermath posted online showed people screaming as bodies lay strewn on the ground.

Hospital director Mohammed Al Husseini told state-run Al Ikhbariya TV that 35 were wounded, with six in intensive care. Mr Al Husseini said most of the casualties were women and children.

The attack came just days after 62 regime fighters were killed in a lightning assault by ISIL to seize the Damascus neighbourhood of Qadam.

ISIL militants have maintained a presence in parts of Damascus, including in the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk and the neighbourhoods of Hajar Al Aswad and Tadamun.

The district is smaller than and not connected to Eastern Ghouta, where the Syrian army and allied forces have recaptured 70 per cent of the territory that was under insurgent control, causing thousands of residents to flee.

A Russian-brokered deal was reached yesterday to allow one of Ghouta’s rebel groups to leave through a corridor to opposition-held north-western Syria.

Fighters from Ahrar Al Sham, in control of the besieged town of Harasta, had agreed to lay down their arms in return for safe passage to insurgent-controlled areas.

The rebels were also offered pardons under reconciliation terms, opposition sources said.

But there was no sign of when the evacuation would begin.

The deal was struck after years of siege and bombardment – a major strategy by the Syrian army to force rebels to surrender.

“The deal has been finalised and it could come into effect soon after a ceasefire is announced, as early as Wednesday,” said one official after talks had been going on for days.

A local official in the opposition-run Harasta council confirmed that a deal had been reached.

Last year, rebels launched a major offensive on army barracks on the edge of Harasta that led to retaliatory attacks. The battles were among the fiercest in Eastern Ghouta in recent years.

Mr Al Assad has vowed to end what he portrays as a terrorist threat in proximity to his seat of power.

On Tuesday, a rocket fell on a popular residential area of the rebel-held enclave killing at least 40 people, according to medics in government controlled areas.

The Syrian authorities accused rebels of firing the rockets in revenge attacks, but rebels have denied the claim.

More than 100 civilians were killed in the last two days of air strikes in Eastern Ghouta with most of the raids on Douma city, the largest population centre. More than 150,000 people still live there.

The Harasta deal will pile pressure on the two main rebel groups – Failaq Al Rahman in the southern pocket and Jaish Al Islam in the northern enclave – to also strike agreements. But they have publicly said they reject Russia’s offer to leave the area.

Most of the casualties were women and children, a hospital director tells state television