DEAL REACHED TO EVACUATE REBELS
Insurgents in Harasta agree to lay down arms in return for safe passage to opposition-held areas
ARUSSIAN-brokered deal has been reached to evacuate a Syrian rebel group from a town in eastern Ghouta to opposition-held northwestern Syria in the first such deal in the last remaining rebel bastion near the capital, two opposition sources said yesterday.
They said fighters from Ahrar al Sham rebel group in control of the besieged town of Harasta had agreed to lay down their arms in return for safe passage to insurgent-controlled areas and an offer to be pardoned under local reconciliation terms with the authorities for those who want to stay.
The evacuation deal comes as state media said at least 35 people were killed on Tuesday when a rocket hit a busy marketplace in an eastern suburb of Damascus, while rescuers said Syrian and Russian airstrikes killed 56 civilians in nearby rebel-held Douma.
The Syrian army and allied forces have recaptured 70 per cent of the territory that was under insurgent control in the enclave and after weeks of bombardment residents are fleeing by the thousands.
“The deal has been finalised. It could come into effect soon after a ceasefire is announced,” said one official familiar with the talks that have been going on for several days.
It would begin with an evacuation of injured civilians, he added.
The predicament of hundreds of rebels trapped in Harasta, one of the main towns in eastern Ghouta, worsened after the army succeeded earlier this month in splintering Ghouta into three besieged zones, cutting off Harasta from other areas.
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 reach an understanding.
They have, however, publicly said they rejected Russia’s offer to leave the enclave.
The most likely option was the transfer of Failaq al-Rahman and Jaish al-Islam fighters to opposition-held areas in northern and southern Syria respectively, a rebel official familiar with the situation on the ground said.
The defeat in eastern Ghouta would mark the worst setback for the anti-Assad rebellion since the opposition was driven from eastern Aleppo in late 2016 after a similar campaign of siege, bombing, ground assaults and the promise of safe passage out.