Syria: Assad closes in on Ghouta as rebels leave

Opposition fighters accepting deals to quit Damascus enclave

Hundreds of fighters and civilians from Harasta in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta sit on busses on March 23, 2018 after a deal was struck with the opposition to evacuate a second pocket of the rebel enclave on the outskirts of Damascus. AFP

Syrian rebel fighters hand themselves over to government troops on March 23, 2018 as regime forces move in to the outskirts of Ain Tarma, in the south of the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus, after a deal was reached with a rebel group that controlled the area. AFP

Hundreds of fighters and civilians from Harasta in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta board busses on March 23, 2018 after a deal was struck with the opposition to evacuate a second pocket of the rebel enclave on the outskirts of Damascus. AFP

Syrian rebels and civilians look through a bus window as they leave Harasta in eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria on March 23, 2018. Omar Sanadiki / Reuters

A boy holds a baby as they wait to be evacuated, outside Harasta in eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria on March 23, 2018. Omar Sanadiki / Reuters

A boy looks through a bus window as rebels and civilians leave Harasta in eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria on March 23, 2018. Omar Sanadiki / Reuters

Rebels stand together as they wait to be evacuated, outside Harasta in eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria on March 23, 2018. Omar Sanadiki / Reuters

Syrian army soldiers fire tracer bullets into the air to celebrate their victory outside Harasta in eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria on March 23, 2018. Omar Sanadiki / Reuters

Syrian rebels and civilians on Saturday waited several hours to be evacuated from the penultimate opposition-held pocket of Eastern Ghouta.

Rebel fighters have left one pocket of Eastern Ghouta and reached a deal to quit another as the government drew closer to retaking full control of the enclave after a battle of more than a month.

A Russian-backed assault since February 18 on the last opposition bastion near Damascus cut rebel territory into three shrinking pockets, each held by different factions.

The government of President Bashar Al Assad and its ally Russia have implemented a "leave or die" strategy with air strikes on rebel-held areas as they look to end six years of opposition control.

State television said the town of Harasta had "been emptied of terrorists" after a deal where fighters from Islamist group Ahrar Al Sham and their families were taken by bus to northwestern Idlib province, still largely rebel-held.

It is Syrian government policy to refer to rebel groups as terrorists.

The evacuation extended regime control to more than 90 per cent of bombed-out Ghouta, where rebels have clung on through years of government siege, a Britain-based war monitor said.

Mr Al Assad's forces look set to expand their control soon over another key area after Islamist group, Faylaq Al Rahman, struck a deal to leave starting at 0700 GMT on Saturday.

The agreement will involve clearing a southern stretch of territory that includes the towns of Zamalka, Arbin and Ain Tarma. Talks are under way over the third and final pocket, around Ghouta's main town of Douma.

The withdrawal deal came after Russian air strikes using incendiary munitions hit the town of Arbin on Thursday, killing 37 civilians, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. AFP reporters saw similar munitions fall on Douma.

But Russia denied it was carrying out any such strikes.

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Read more:

Syria: second evacuation deal reached in Ghouta

President Bashar Al Assad visits troops in Ghouta

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Each one of the three pockets has come under intense bombardment, forcing the rebels who control them to sue for an exit in a tactic commonly used by Mr Al Assad's forces in Syria's seven-year war.

The Observatory says that more than 1,600 civilians have been killed in just over a month.

Harasta's evacuation - which began Thursday - came as part of a deal negotiated by Russia.

Syrian state media reported more than 4,500 people including more than 1,400 fighters left.

Fighters and civilians on Friday loaded onto a fleet of 50 buses in a buffer zone outside their former bastion before beginning the journey to Idlib.

The head of the rebel-controlled local council in Harasta, Hossam Al Beiruti, described a pitiful scene as he and other residents readied to leave their town.

"They came out from under the rubble. They came out of cellars they had been buried in without food," he told AFP.

"They emerged back to life despite their feelings of abandonment by the international community."

The first batch of fighters to leave Ghouta arrived at a camp in Idlib province on Friday after spending the night on the edge of rebel-held territory.

"Our situation in Harasta was very tragic," Abu Mohammed, a civilian told AFP in the town of Maarat al-Ikhwan.

"We couldn't live above ground because of the heavy bombardment... Some children stayed in basements for four months with no food. We couldn't even find fodder to eat."

Retaking Eastern Ghouta, a sprawling semi-rural area which had escaped government control since 2012 and lies within mortar range of central Damascus, was made a priority this year after a string of regime gains.

On the government-held side of Harasta, an AFP correspondent said Syrian soldiers fired celebratory gunshots into the air after they heard of the deal to evacuate the second pocket of the enclave.

Ahrar Al Sham had made some demands in talks before the evacuation but were forced to accept conditions.

"The one thing they got was that they were able to leave without being killed," said Nawar Oliver, an analyst at the Turkey-based Omran Centre.

About 80 civilians were reported killed on Thursday in bombardments of the territory held by Faylaq Al Rahman before they sealed a deal for 7,000 people to leave.

"The humanitarian situation continues to be catastrophic, with no food, emergency items nor medical supplies and outbreaks of disease due to civilians stuck in crowded and insalubrious basements," Faylaq Al Rahman spokesman Wael Alwan told AFP before the deal.

"There are cases of lice and scabies," the Turkey-based spokesman said.

AFP video and pictures from Douma, which is controlled by the Salafist rebel faction Jaish Al Islam, showed bright white streams falling from the sky in a fashion consistent with incendiary munitions.

Jaish Al Islam, too, opened negotiations with Russia.

The offensive on Eastern Ghouta has caused widespread outrage.