21 buses ready to evacuate Islam Army militants, their families from Damascus' Douma

DAMASCUS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 21 buses have prepared to evacuate Islam Army rebels and their families from Douma district east of Damascus to the rebel-held city of Jarablus in northern Syria, state media reported.

The buses have been loading the militants and their families since Sunday night under a new deal reached with the government forces.

The buses are assembling in the Wafideen area northeast of Damascus adjacent to Douma, the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus.

More buses are preparing to reach Wafideen before setting off to Jarablus.

The fresh agreement between the Islam Army and the Syrian government under the mediation of Russia is the second to be reached recently after the rebels' failure to live up to their previous pledges to leave Douma toward Jarablus and release the kidnapped people.

It also comes after the Syrian army unleashed a wide-scale offensive against Douma after the failure of the first deal as the Islam Army rebels halted their evacuation and rejected to leave Douma.

After 2,963 rebels of Islam Army and their families evacuated Douma on three batches earlier this month, the fourth batch didn't leave as planned on Friday, with the state media in Syria saying the conflict among the Islam Army commanders were the reason.

Recent estimates placed the number of the militants who will evacuate Douma at 8,000 and their families at 40,000 people.

A day earlier, the Islam Army released 50 of around 5,000 kidnapped people, with the government saying the priority behind the deal is the release of kidnapped people who have been imprisoned by the rebels for four years. Enditem