The last rebel group in Eastern Ghouta, Jaish al-Islam, has finally agreed to leave its holdout in Douma for an opposition-held area in northern Syria, according to the sources from opposition negotiators and the Russian foreign ministry.
The deal was reached just a day after a reported chemical attack which killed scores of people and affected hundreds of other Douma residents. The attack provoked global outrage but was dismissed as “fabrication” by the Syrian government, whose forces on Friday started an offensive against the rebels under the cover of air raids.
The agreement was possible after Jaish al-Islam and Russia agreed on Sunday along with a ceasefire and the evacuation of fighters and civilians from the area.
“According to people who helped negotiate this agreement, Jaish al-Islam has agreed with the Russian forces to begin evacuating with their families, as well as anyone else who wants to leave,” Al Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from Amman, said.
As part of the agreement, Russian military police will move into Douma to be able to keep Syrian forces out, added Ghoneim.
The Russian army also said that it had made a deal with Jaish al-Islam to be able to withdraw about 8,000 of its fighters and some 40,000 of their relatives.
Major General Yuri Yevtushenko was quoted as saying that a convoy of 100 busees had entered Douma to start the evacuation.
Russian news agency RIA, gave a reference to a security source while saying that Jaish al-Islam fighters were scheduled to leave Douma in two batches in the coming hours.
The official news agency of Syria, SANA, cited a government source regarding a deal that was reached and said that the agreement would see “the departure of all so-called Jaish al-Islam terrorists to Jarablus within 48 hours”.
But in exchange, the group, Jaish al-Islam will have to release hostages it had held captive till now, according to the sources.
Douma is considered to be the last rebel-held town in Easter Ghouta, a suburb near Damascus which was once the opposition force’s main bastion on the outskirts of the capital.
For long, the group had been in dialogue with the Russian army over the town’s future and was optimistic in securing a deal that would allow them to remain in control.
But all of the negotiations crumbled last week and fierce bombing of Douma followed on Friday.
Two rebel groups, last week, agreed upon evacuation deals with the Russian army resulting in about 19,000 people leaving for the northern province of Idlib.
The leaving people also included fighters from the Fayloq al-Rahman and Ahrar al-Sham rebel groups along with their families and other residents.
According to the Rebel groups these evacuations were in actual terms a forced displacement, but decided to give in after weeks of intense bombardment.
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