1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Conflicts

Syria: rebels evacuate Douma under new agreement

April 9, 2018

Hours after an alleged chemical attack, the Russian army brokered a deal to allow rebels and civilians to safely abandon Douma. The evacuation brings the Syrian army one step closer to recapturing all of eastern Ghouta.

A Syrian Army soldier in Eastern Ghouta
Image: Imago/Xinhua/A. Safarjalani

Civilians and rebel fighters began a new round of evacuations on Sunday out of Douma, the last opposition-held enclave within the besieged Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta.

The evacuations were to take place just hours after aid organizations said that more than 70 people had been killed in an alleged chemical attack in Douma. Syria and Russia, Assad's ally in the fight, have denied carrying out a chemical attack, but the incident has drawn wide condemnation across the international community. Early Monday state-run media in Syria reported a missile attack on a military airport in Homs.

Read more: Syrian and allied forces enter rebel-held Douma in eastern Ghouta

Thousands expected to leave

Major General Yuri Yevtushenko, head of the Russian military's Reconciliation Center in Syria, confirmed on Sunday that a convoy of 100 buses had entered Douma to begin the evacuation.

Yevtushenko explained that the Russian army had struck a deal with the rebel group Army of Islam to withdraw about 8,000 of its fighters and some 40,000 family members.

Syria's state news agency SANA reported, citing an unnamed official source, that under the agreement, all departed fighters will head to the opposition-held town of Jarabulus in northern Syria.

Read more: Eastern Ghouta: Despite bomb hail, Tariq resists evacuation

In return, the extremist group agreed to release thousands of people that it currently holds in captivity.

The deal is said to be implemented in 48 hours, SANA added without adding any other details, while Army of Islam (also known as Jaish al-Islam) has not yet commented on the agreement.

Eastern Ghouta has been the center of a sustained campaign to recapture it by the Syrian military, with Russian support, for the past seven weeks. Sunday's accord would tighten the government's grip on eastern Ghouta and bring it one step closer to reclaiming the whole of the Damascus suburb.

jcg/se (dpa, Reuters)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.

Skip next section Explore more
Skip next section DW's Top Story

DW's Top Story

Skip next section More stories from DW