Amid the chaos and violence, there's some good news for the Syrian city of Douma. The rebels based there agreed on Sunday to resume evacuating rebel fighters. They also agreed to release prisoners captured over the past six years. This is all part of a deal with the government. Alaa Ebrahim reports from Damascus.

ALAA EBRAHIM DAMASCUS "Tension prevailed over Damascus on Monday as Syrians braced for possible American strikes in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Douma on Saturday.

The town of Douma is the last rebel holdout in Eastern Ghouta. On Sunday rebels agreed to resume carrying out a deal with the government - mediated by Russia -- to evacuate rebel fighters to the town of Jarablus in northern Syria near the border with Turkey. Under the deal, the rebels also agreed to release prisoners captured over the course of the past six years and allow state institutions to re-enter the town.

After progress got underway, with rebels releasing dozens of prisoners and starting to leave Douma, the deal seemed to come -once again - to a grinding halt.

News that out of an estimated 32-hundred prisoners inside rebel prisons only 200 are still alive has sent waves of fury among family members who staged a sit-in demanding to know the fate of their captured relatives. At this point neither the government nor the rebels are willing to discuss the details of the ongoing negotiations or the fate of these hundreds of prisoners -- but for the time being, the rebel evacuation is on hold.

Alaa Ebrahim - CGTN - Damascus."