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The last Syrian rebel group in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus has begun withdrawing under an agreement with the Government, state media says, though a military source says a group of insurgents are still rejecting a deal with the state.
Key points:
- The rebels are allegedly headed north to areas controlled by Turkish-backed groups
- Some factions have reportedly opposed the evacuation
- If confirmed, the deal would end the war for Eastern Ghouta
Jaish al-Islam, which has been defending the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma against Russian-backed Syrian government forces, has not confirmed the agreement with the Government.
Indicating divisions in the group, a Syrian military source told Reuters some of the fighters were rejecting the deal and the army would use force unless they did.
"They will all have to agree to the settlement in the end," the source said.
If confirmed, the departure of Jaish al-Islam from Douma would mark the end of the war for Eastern Ghouta, wiping out an opposition stronghold near Damascus and underlining President Bashar al-Assad's unassailable position in the war.
Syrian state TV said eight buses carrying 448 people — fighters and their families — had left Douma so far on Monday, en route for the north.
State media said the rebels were due to go to areas near the Turkish-Syrian border that are controlled by opposition groups.
The towns are located in a section of the Turkish-Syrian frontier where Turkey has carved out a buffer zone controlled on the ground by its military and allied fighters from Free Syrian Army rebel groups that are hostile to Mr Assad.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the civil war through a network of activists on the ground, also reported the evacuation.
It said dozens of buses had entered Douma early on Monday in readiness to evacuate the rebels and their families to the northern towns of Jarablus and al-Bab, near the Turkish border.
Rami Abdurrahman, the observatory's director, said some rebels had opposed evacuating and effectively surrendering Douma to the Government of Mr Assad.
The deal over Douma would mark the end of a weeks-long push by Mr Assad's forces to consolidate their control over Eastern Ghouta, just outside the capital.
Under the deal, Syrian state media said Jaish al-Islam would hand over heavy and medium-sized weapons and acknowledge the restoration of the Damascus Government's control of Douma.
Douma was one of the earliest centres of the anti-Government demonstrations that swept through the country in March 2011.
Syrian Government forces responded by putting the town and other suburbs around Damascus under siege, bombing hospitals and residential areas, and blocking the entry of food and medical relief.
Local activists have said that over 100,000 civilians were trapped inside Douma, which suffered devastating damage.
Russia is a key backer of Assad
The most recent Syrian air and ground offensive on Eastern Ghouta, supported by Russia's military, killed at least 1,600 people, according to the Observatory.
More than 120,000 others have fled their homes and sought safety with the Government, according to Russia's military operation in Syria.
Over the past weeks, as Syrian forces reclaimed towns and villages in Eastern Ghouta, they gave rebels and all men of fighting age the choice of accepting amnesty and serving in the Syrian military conscription, or leaving to go to the north of Syria — thousands chose the north, taking with them their families.
More than 40,000 Syrian rebels and their family members have relocated to rebel-held north Syria, according to the Russian military.
Turkey, with support from rebels, is running its own military operations against a US-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria, which controls territory along the frontier.
On Sunday, the Syrian Government-linked Central Military Media outlet said that once the evacuations were completed, a local council for Douma would be formed with the approval of the central Government.
Reuters/AP
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, foreign-affairs, syrian-arab-republic