Roundup: Over 13,000 rebels, families leave Syria's Eastern Ghouta in 3 days

DAMASCUS, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Over 13,000 rebels and their families have evacuated the central towns in Syrian capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside in the past three day.

The rebels and civilians have left in three batches, with the latest one leaving after midnight Tuesday. A total of 6,749 people, including 1,620 rebels, left the areas of Jobar, Zamalka, Arbeen, and Ayn Tarma on Tuesday, the state news agency SANA reported.

In the previous two batches, on last Saturday and Sunday respectively, a total of 6,416 people, including rebels and their families, evacuated the same areas and moved to the rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Efforts are ongoing to facilitate the evacuation of more rebels, who will leave Eastern Ghouta through a crossing in the town of Arbeen and reach the government-controlled area on the outskirts of Arbeen before going to Idlib.

The aforementioned areas have been under the control of the Failaq al-Rahman rebel group, which agreed last Friday to negotiate over its evacuation from Eastern Ghouta.

The deal, brokered by the Russians, also demanded for the release of the kidnapped people from the rebels' custody.

On Tuesday night, 28 people were freed and reached the government-controlled area, a day after eight people were released from the same area.

The evacuation agreement has been implemented smoothly, and it came right after a similar deal was reached and implemented in Harasta city in Eastern Ghouta, where rebels and their families had left before it became under the control of the government.

After the full evacuation of the Failaq al-Rahman rebels, only the Douma district in Eastern Ghouta would still be controlled by the rebels.

There have been reports that the rebels in the Douma district were also discussing with the Russians to reach a settlement there.

SANA said that the militants of the Islam Army, the major rebel group in control of Douma, are ready to lay down their weapons and withdraw from that area.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to the government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus.

Four major rebel groups have 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 an alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation for 400,000 people living in that region.

Activists said around 1,000 people have been killed since late last month by the heavy bombardment and military conflicts between rebels and government troops in Eastern Ghouta.

As the Syrian army steadily advanced in Eastern Ghouta recently, an estimated 120,000 civilians have fled the region for the government-controlled areas. Enditem