The Syrian rebel group Jaysh al-Islam has denied reaching a deal to evacuate the last town in the besieged Syrian enclave of eastern Ghouta, heightening the possibility of further violence and suffering for civilians still trapped in the area.
Talks that could lead to the exile of the group and tens of thousands of civilians from the city of Douma, one of the largest in Syria before the war, have floundered over Russian demands that they evacuate Ghouta, which borders the capital Damascus.
Jaysh al-Islam says it does not want to leave the city, despite a scorched earth campaign by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, backed by Moscow. It lasted a month and a half and killed over 1,500 civilians in eastern Ghouta and devastated the region, once the breadbasket of the capital. The group wants to remain and for the Russian military to be entrusted with providing security and ensuring civilians are not prosecuted by the regime for their opposition activities.
Earlier on Friday, Russia said a deal had been reached to exile the fighters, followed by a denial by Jaysh al-Islam.
“There is no truth to media reports on a deal for the exit of Jaysh al-Islam from Douma, and our stance remains clear and unchanged, and that is a rejection of forced displacement and demographic change in what remains of eastern Ghouta,” said the group’s spokesman, Hamza Bayrakdar.
Tens of thousands of civilians have already left the towns of eastern Ghouta, either to camps overseen by the regime or through civilian crossings, or to the northern province of Idlib that is controlled by the opposition. Eastern Ghouta had a population of more than 300,000 civilians before the latest campaign, and the evacuations from other parts of the area are ongoing.
The area has been under siege for years and was subjected to a chemical attack in 2013 by government forces who used toxic sarin gas and nearly prompted an American intervention in the war.
The government campaign to crush the last rebel stronghold near the capital split Ghouta into three areas under the control of different rebel groups. Those groups negotiated ceasefire and evacuation deals with Moscow, with the proviso that Russian forces would act as guarantors that would restrain the Assad regime from pursuing opposition activists and other civilians, many of whom left the area anyway.
Jaysh al-Islam is now the lone holdout, and a source within the negotiation committee said the group may decide to resume fighting in Douma if a deal is not reached with Russia. Such a prospect could be catastrophic for civilians, who would bear the brunt of the violence if the bombardment of Douma resumes.
