Hundreds of rebels to leave second opposition-held area
BEIRUT >> Hundreds of members of a rebel group and their relatives boarded 17 buses Saturday in preparation to leave eastern Ghouta to opposition-held areas north of the country as part of an agreement to evacuate the second of three pockets held by opposition fighters east of the capital Damascus, Syria’s state media reported.
State TV and the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said more than 500 fighters and their relatives will leave Saturday night toward northern Syria, and hundreds more will evacuate the following day. State TV and SCMM earlier said that a total of 7,000 people will leave four towns in eastern Ghouta before reporting that the number had dropped to just over 3,000, without providing an explanation.
The departure comes a day after an agreement was reached between Faylaq al-Rahman, the second most powerful rebel group in eastern Ghouta, and the Russians to surrender the second of three pockets in eastern Ghouta, where rebels have been holding up over the past years.
Earlier in the day, bulldozers removed giant sand barriers from a main road in the town of Harasta that will be used by the rebels and their relatives to make their way to the country’s north. After sunset, several buses carrying evacuees arrived at the edge of the town of Arbeen where they gathered before heading north.
The government-controlled SCMM said a corridor was prepared for Faylaq al-Rahman members and their relatives to leave the towns of Zamalka, Arbeen, Ein Tarma and Jobar.
The evacuations come after thousands streamed out of Harasta, the first pocket after a similar negotiated deal for the evacuation of armed fighters and civilians. On Friday night, Harasta was void of rebels for the first time in six years.
“The city of Harasta in eastern Ghouta is free of terrorism,” SCMM said referring to opposition fighters that the government refers to as terrorists.