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Group Of Civilians Evacuated From Syria's Ghouta


Buses wait to evacuate civilians on the government side of the Wafideen checkpoint on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus, near the eastern Ghouta enclave on March 13.
Buses wait to evacuate civilians on the government side of the Wafideen checkpoint on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus, near the eastern Ghouta enclave on March 13.

Several sick and injured civilians were shown on Syrian state television leaving the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta for government territory.

State television on March 13 showed a group of people arriving at the Wafideen crossing after they left the area with a woman saying that she had been waiting for more than a year to evacuate her sick child.

It also showed an older man being carried on a wheelchair before boarding an ambulance.

Meanwhile, the Russian military said that around 100 people had left the town of Duma in the Ghouta area, the last opposition-controlled pocket near Damascus.

Yasser Delwan, a member of the largest rebel group in the besieged region, confirmed that a group of patients had left under a deal for a medical evacuation with the Syrian government's key ally Russia.

However, the group Jaysh al-Islam vowed not to leave the area and to continue fighting advancing Syrian government forces.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, TASS, and Interfax

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