Jaish al-Islam rebels refuse to leave eastern Ghouta, says spokesman

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Jaish al-Islam, the last rebel faction in control of territory in eastern Ghouta, said on Sunday it would not withdraw to other opposition-held parts of Syria as other rebel groups have done under deals negotiated with Syrian government's ally Russia.

After a month-long ground and air offensive and deals under which rebel fighters agreed to be transported to northern Syria, pro-Syrian government forces have taken control of most of what had been the last major rebel stronghold near the capital Damascus.

Only the town of Douma, the most populous part of eastern Ghouta, remains under rebel control.

Jaish al-Islam is currently negotiating with Russia over the future of the area and the people in it.

"Today the negotiations taking place ... are to stay in Ghouta and not to leave it," Jaish al-Islam's military spokesman Hamza Birqdar told Istanbul-based Syrian radio station Radio al-Kul via Skype from eastern Ghouta.

Birqdar accused the Syrian government of trying to change the demographic balance of eastern Ghouta by forcing locals out and replacing them with its allies.

Syrians gather around Syrian Red Crescent vehicles as they prepare to evacuate from the town of Arbin in eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, after a deal was struck with the regime. /VCG Photo

He said in the negotiations with Russia Jaish al-Islam is asking for guarantees that what remains of the local population will not be forced out.

Both Ahrar al-Sham and Failq al-Rahman, two other rebel groups formerly in charge of pockets in eastern Ghouta, have accepted deals under which they withdrew to opposition-held Idlib in northwest Syria.

Moscow and Damascus say the Ghouta campaign is necessary to halt deadly rebel shelling of the capital.

Last Friday, Syrian rebel fighters left one pocket of battered eastern Ghouta and reached a deal to quit another as government forces drew close to regaining full control over the key enclave.

A blistering Russian-backed assault since February 18 on the last opposition bastion near Damascus had splintered rebel territory into three shrinking pockets, each held by different factions.

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Source(s): AFP ,Reuters