You're reading: Associated Press: Russia says 1,100 have evacuated rebel stronghold Ghouta

Associated Press: Russia says 1,100 have evacuated rebel stronghold Ghouta

Published April 3, 2018 at 12:35 pm

This picture taken on March 29, 2018, shows destroyed buildings in Harasta nearly a week after the regime forces retook the town from the rebels, in Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of the capital Damascus.An agreement between Russia and the Islamist faction Faylaq al-Rahman has already seen nearly 20,000 people quit the towns of Arbin and Zamalka and the Jobar district since last week.

Photo by AFP

The Russian military says 1,100 Syrian rebels and their family members have evacuated from a stronghold in the Damascus suburbs in the past 24 hours.

The town of Douma was one of the earliest hubs of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in 2011 and home to the Army of Islam, the largest rebel group in the eastern Ghouta suburbs of the Syrian capital.