Rebels have begun evacuating the last enclave they held in eastern Ghouta, and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are about to take over the entire former insurgent stronghold at the gates of Damascus.
The operation, the fruit of an agreement with Russia, unwavering ally of the power of Damascus, should take several days, according to an NGO, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
Crushed by bombings that killed more than 1,600 civilians in five weeks according to the OSDH, insurgent groups in Eastern Ghouta have agreed one by one to abandon their territories in this region highly symbolic for the rebellion.
In the ultimate rebel pocket, around the big city of Duma dominated by the group Jaich al-Islam, the evacuation of fighters and their relatives began Monday, according to Syrian state media.
The pro-government daily Al-Watan said in an editorial that it was only a matter of hours before Duma was declared a “city without terrorism”.
“The city of Douma is about to join the other localities and areas of Ghouta (eastern) that have been taken over by the army,” said Al-Watan.
The rebel movement, which has some 10,000 fighters, has not confirmed the information, remaining walled in silence since Sunday.
– Divisions –
It is agitated by internal divisions, according to the OSDH, for which “discussions” are underway to convince “the radical wing of Jaich al-Islam not to prevent the application of the agreement with the Russians “.
“We are going to stay in this city and we are not going to leave, that those who want to go out,” said Essam Al-Bouidani, the leader of Jaich al-Islam, in a video posted Sunday on the group’s YouTube account, without it cannot be determined when it was filmed.
The official Syrian news agency Sana said on Monday night that “1,146 terrorists from Jaich al-Islam and their family members left from Duma to Jarablos”, a city in northern Syria, after several hours of waiting. The regime refers to as “terrorist” all the rebels who oppose him.
In recent days, more than 46,000 people, about a quarter of them fighters, have already reached rebel areas in Idleb province in the north-west of the country, the Syrian authorities said.
With these evacuations organized by Moscow, the Syrian authorities now control 95% of Ghouta, after a deadly and devastating offensive launched on February 18th. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Ghouta “hell on earth”.
The fighters of Jaich al-Islam, their relatives and other civilians who want it, will join the region of Jarablos, the territory of northern Syria held by protesters rebels. Residents who wish can stay and regulate their situation, according to state television.
– “Extirpate” the rebels –
“Whether it’s following an evacuation agreement or crushing it under the bombs, what matters to Assad is to root out Jaich al-Islam from Duma, forever,” said the researcher. Nicholas Heras, Center for Reflection Center for a New American Security based in Washington.
Thanks to Russian military support, the power of Damascus has been able to reverse the war that has ravaged Syria since 2011, multiplying victories over rebels and jihadists, until reclaiming more than half of the country.
The total resumption of Ghouta by government forces would be one of the worst defeats for the rebels in the war that has ravaged Syria for more than seven years.
At the beginning of the year, the government had made Eastern Ghouta its priority, while the rebels of this sector were firing deadly shells and rockets at the capital.
The war in Syria, which began with bloody repression by the regime of demonstrations calling for democratic reforms, has left more than 350,000 dead and millions of refugees and displaced. It has turned into a complex conflict involving Syrian and foreign belligerents, as well as jihadist groups.
