Syrian army says it has regained control over most of eastern Ghouta

The Syrian army command said onSaturday it had regained most of the towns and villages ineastern Ghouta and was pressing its military operations in thelast rebel bastion of Douma.

In a televised statement, the Syrian army spokesman said theweeks-long military campaign had now brought security to theSyrian capital, Damascus, and also secured its main links toother parts of the country, stretching north and all the way tothe Iraqi border to the east.

A last group of fighters and families had earlier left themain towns of Jobar, Zamalka, Arbeen and Ain Tarma. Footage onstate television showed top army commanders entering by the sameroute the rebel convoys had used to leave.

Tens of thousands of people have now evacuated once-bustlingtowns in the suburbs east of the capital, which had nearly twomillion people before the start of the conflict and were majorcommercial and industrial hubs.

The army command said military operations were continuing inthe outskirts of the city of Douma, controlled by the Jaishal-Islam rebel group, the last patch of eastern Ghouta stillheld by insurgents.

Douma's fall would seal the rebels' worst defeat since 2016,driving them from their last big stronghold near the capital, and would also carry potent symbolism. The town was the maincentre of street protests in the Damascus suburbs againstPresident Bashar al-Assad's rule that ignited the conflict sevenyears ago.

The army said hundreds of rebels had been killed in theferocious offensive. The opposition says a relentless air campaign was waged in which the army used napalm, chlorine andincendiary bombs to demoralize rebels by targeting civilianareas.

Indiscriminate bombing

The rebels say the indiscriminate bombing forced them tocapitulate and agree to surrender deals that force them either to make peace or leave to rebel-held areas after weeks ofbombing and sieges that prevented food from reaching the enclaves.

The Syrian army has repeatedly said regaining control overrebel-held suburbs would stop rocket attacks on the capital.

They deny that many civilians were killed in bombardmentsthat rescuers and residents say reduced whole neighbourhoods torubble in densely populated areas where at least 350,000 peoplelived.

Defence analysts say a major goal of the campaign was tocomplete a security belt around the capital, where for years rebels dug into an elaborate network of tunnels and well-fortified positions had resisted countless offensives to seize the enclave.

Assad said recently securing eastern Ghouta, whichwas the soft belly of the heavily defended capital, had foiled plots by his foreign enemies to topple him.

"The gains have been achieved after units of the armyeliminated hundreds of terrorists, their headquarter and their fortifications," the army statement said.

Douma is surrounded by government forces, many of whom wereelite forces from the Republican Guards and special army units, who have been amassing troops in recent days and threatening tostorm the city if the rebels do not agree to leave.

150,000 people displaced

Tens of thousands of civilians remain in Douma, which is thelargest urban centre in the enclave, facing worsening humanitarian conditions.

The rebels there deny they are negotiating an evacuationdeal and say talks with the Russian military aim to find a solution that would allow them to stay in the city underMoscow's protection.

Negotiators, however, reached a deal with the Russianmilitary late on Saturday to evacuate wounded in the city to
insurgent-held areas in northwestern Syria, local sources said.

It was not clear if the step would pave the way towardabroader deal to evacuate fighters in an arrangement similar toone that was brokered by the other main rival rebel group,Failaq al Rahman, with Moscow that has allowed most of itsfighters to leave their former areas of control.

The Syrian army offers defeated rebels either the option ofmaking peace and switching sides or surrender.

"Army units are continuing their combat operations to ridDouma of terrorists," the army statement said.

The Russian-backed offensive in eastern Ghouta has killedmore than 1,600 civilians and thousands of wounded, rescuerssaid. The authorities say about 150,000 people have now beendisplaced from eastern Ghouta.

Thousands of people fighters, their families and othercivilians have been leaving for northwestern Syria from other parts of eastern Ghouta in convoys of buses that have been givensafe passage to Idlib province.

Many evacuees who arrived at rebel-held territory aftergruelling trip through government controlled villages said many residents hurled abuses and threw shoes and stones at theirbuses.

The conflict began after mass protests calling for an end toAssad's authoritarian rule on March 15, 2011, dragging in regional and global powers and forcing millions of people morethan half the pre-war population to flee their homes.