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About 1,000 militants leave Syria’s Eastern Ghouta - Russian reconciliation center

Since the beginning of humanitarian pauses, a total of 110,069 people have been evacuated from Eastern Ghouta with the assistance of the Russian reconciliation center

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. About 1,000 militants and members of their families have left Eastern Ghouta to be taken to the Idlib de-escalation zone, chief of the Russian center for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria Yuri Yevtushenko said on Sunday.

"Militants of the Faylaq al-Rahman group and members of their families begin to leave the settlement of Arbil in Eastern Ghouta via a humanitarian corridor allocated by the Syrian authorities under control from the Russian reconciliation center. By the end of this day, as many as 998 militants and members of their families left the enclave. They were taken to the settlement of Qalaat al-Mudiq in the Idlib de-escalation zone. The operation continues," he said.

Apart from that, a total of 1,092 civilians left Eastern Ghouta via the al-Wafidin humanitarian corridor. "As many as 24,490 people have left the area via this corridor since February 28. Since the beginning of humanitarian pauses, a total of 110,069 people have been evacuated from Eastern Ghouta with the assistance of the Russian reconciliation center," Yevtushenko said, adding that some 1,000 food baskets and 2,600 hot meals rations were distributed among civilians at the humanitarian corridors’ checkpoints and camps for internally displaced persons.

On March 24, more than one tonne of freshly baked bread was distributed among people in the settlement of Bannan in the province of Aleppo. Drinking water was delivered to the settlement of al-Husseiniya in the province of Deir ez-Zor. Sixty-eight Syrians, including 27 children, received first aid assistance from Russian military medics.

"During the day, 62 people returned to their homes in the province of Hons, and 498 people returned to their homes in the province of Deir ez-Zor," he added.

Following United Nations Security Council Resolution 2401 of February 24 calling to stop hostilities in Syria, daily humanitarian pause have been in effect at Russia’s initiative in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta since February 27. They are aimed at providing civilians and unarmed militants with an opportunity to leave the area. Militants disrupted humanitarian pauses in the first several days, but later on shelling incident ceased, so civilians have been leaving the enclave through the humanitarian corridor every day.