Rebels prepare to quit enclave on Damascus doorstep

ARBIN, Syria: Syrian rebels and civilians prepared on Saturday to evacuate the penultimate opposition-held pocket of Eastern Ghouta, as the government moved ever closer to securing the outskirts of the capital.

Eastern Ghouta was once the most significant opposition bastion on the edge of Damascus, but beleaguered rebels are now left with less than 10 percent of their onetime stronghold.

Since February 18, a Russian-backed air and ground assault by Syrian troops brought most of the area under government control, and Damascus is using evacuation deals to clear the last three pockets.

Rebels completed a negotiated withdrawal from one Ghouta town on Friday and a similar deal was reached the same day for Faylaq al-Rahman fighters to pull out of a second pocket.

Talks are ongoing for the third pocket around Ghouta´s largest town of Douma.

Under Friday´s agreement, rebels and civilians in areas held by Faylaq al-Rahman are to be bussed to opposition-held territory in northwestern Syria.

The evacuations from the towns of Zamalka, Arbin and Ain Tarma had been scheduled to begin at 9 am (0700 GMT) but by late morning, state television said logistical preparations were still underway.

Dozens of fighters, their relatives, and other residents waited out in the open in the bombed-out streets of Arbin, an AFP correspondent reported.

It was the first time in weeks that so many people were seen outside. Relentless shelling and air strikes had made it too dangerous to venture out of basement shelters, even to find food.

Many had their bags already packed in readiness to leave, and ambulances in the nearby town of Zamalka were preparing to transport the sick and wounded.

The government has been implementing a "leave or die" strategy in the rebel enclave, reducing large areas of its towns to rubble with air strikes and artillery fire but keeping open the offer of evacuation.

The onslaught has killed more than 1,600 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

State news agency SANA said on Saturday that more than 105,000 civilians have fled Ghouta so far.

Once the government had whittled down rebel territory to three isolated pockets, each controlled by a different rebel group, it pursued separate evacuation deals

The first deal brokered by Russia was reached this week with the hardline Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham for the town of Harasta.

More than 4,500 people, including over 1,400 fighters, left Harasta for Idlib, state television reported.

Dozens of buses carrying Harasta evacuees arrived in Idlib province on Friday night and a second batch arrived on Saturday morning.

The second agreement, with Faylaq al-Rahman, provides for the transfer of an estimated 7,000 people to Idlib, including civilians as well as rebel fighters.

The rebels include a number of jihadists from Syria´s former Al-Qaeda affiliate who have fought alongside Faylaq al-Rahman.