Weeping Syrians yesterday boarded buses out of a ravaged pocket of eastern Ghouta in a new wave of evacuations to clear another part of the former rebel bastion.
Five weeks since the Syrian government launched an all-out assault on Ghouta, it holds more than 90 percent of the onetime opposition stronghold on the edge of Damascus. To help it capture the rest, key government backer Russia has mediated talks with various rebel groups to negotiate withdrawals from the three remaining pockets.
One area was emptied under such a deal over the past few days and evacuations began late on Saturday for a second part, held by the Muslim militant Faylaq al-Rahman rebel faction. The agreement is set to see about 7,000 rebels and civilians bussed from the towns of Arbin and Zamalka, as well as the district of Jobar to the rebel-dominated Idlib Governatorate in northwestern Syria.
After hours of delay, about 980 quit Ghouta on Saturday night aboard 17 buses and several ambulances. They arrived in part of the Hama Governatorate near the border with Idlib yesterday morning as more evacuations were expected.
Devastated Syrian civilians and rebel fighters dressed in black in the early morning gathered in the main streets of Arbin, Agence France-Presse’s (AFP) correspondent there said.
They carried duffel bags and dragged suitcases stuffed to the brim as they shuffled past ruined buildings. By mid-morning, about 20 empty buses and ambulances had entered the town, parking at a large roundabout. Fighters and civilians began to board, bidding tearful goodbyes to their home towns before they headed to opposition territory further north.
Hamza Abbas, an opposition campaigner in the nearby town of Zamalka, told reporters that he was planning to board the buses too.
“People are very sad about leaving their homes, their land, their childhood memories and the place where they spent the best days of their childhood,” he said. “They have no money, no houses, no furniture or even clothes to take with them because of this bombardment.”
As part of Faylaq al-Rahman’s deal with Moscow, residents have been offered the option to stay in Zamalka and Arbin as the area fell under regime control, but Abbas said he would not.
“I decided to leave Ghouta, because how am I supposed to live alongside someone who killed my family, my siblings, my friends? With someone who destroyed me, my life and my future?” Abbas asked.
Since it began on Feb. 18, the Ghouta assault has left more than 1,600 civilians dead and thousands more wounded, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said.
Even before the onslaught, the enclave’s 400,000 residents for half a decade suffered under a crippling government siege that severely limited their access to food, medicine and other basic goods.
The Syrian government has used siege tactics followed by heavy bombardment and negotiated settlements to recapture swathes of territory that it lost to rebels. Damascus and Moscow have applied this “leave or die” strategy to Ghouta as well, smashing the enclave into three isolated pockets before seeking separate evacuation deals for each one.
Under the first Russian-brokered deal in the region, Muslim militant group Ahrar al-Sham agreed to quit the town of Harasta. More than 4,500 people, including more than 1,400 fighters, left Harasta for Idlib on Thursday and Friday last week.
Tens of thousands of people bussed out of opposition territory have been brought to Idlib over the past few years under deals like those negotiated in Ghouta. The population has swelled with rebels, Muslim militants and civilians.
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