Negotiations underway over solution in three Eastern Ghouta towns

DAMASCUS, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Negotiations are underway over a solution in three towns in the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus, a monitor group reported Monday.

The negotiations are taking place between delegations in Eastern Ghouta and the Syrian government through mediators, who are merchants from Eastern Ghouta but have been staying in the capital Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The London-based observatory, however, stopped short of giving further details about the ongoing negotiations in the towns of Kafar Batna, Hamouriyeh and Saqba in the southern part of Eastern Ghouta.

Hamouriyeh and Saqba have been witnessing protests by civilians against rebels in the area, which indicates that the deal could include allowing rebels out of the area.

The situation in Eastern Ghouta has flared up since late February following a wide-scale military operation by the Syrian army to dislodge al-Qaida-linked groups from the area.

A day earlier, the Syrian army split Eastern Ghouta into three parts, by tightening the siege on Douma in the north, the city of Harasta in the west and other towns and villages south of the region.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, constitutes the last threat to Damascus given its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of the capital and continuing mortar attacks on residential areas there.

Four major rebel groups are currently positioned inside Eastern Ghouta, namely the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Levant Liberation Committee, known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

The UN humanitarian agencies have sounded the alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation for 400,000 people in Eastern Ghouta, where activists said around 1,000 have been killed since a military showdown between rebels and the government late February. Enditem