(Zaman Al Wasl)- Jaish al-Islam on Thursday denied reports of reaching an evacuation deal with Russia from the stricken town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta suburbs.
Yaser Delwan, head of the Political Bureau in the key Islamist group, said on his official Twitter account that social media activists and pro-regime media outlets had surfaced 'fake news' over a reconciliation deal in Douma, attributing the reports to him.
Delwan has accused Nusra Front, al-Qaeda ex-affiliate in Syria, of fabricating such reports.
Regime forces have recently split the enclave in two and cut off the towns of Douma and Harasta.
Mahmoud Haroun, the chief of Douma's Free Police, said who launches such rumors is seeking to sow strife among rebels.
Meanwhile, rebels say they have retaken the town of Hammourieh few hours after the regime's control on Thursday, killing more than 30 troops, rebel source told Zaman al-Wasl.
Early today, the regime army said it had captured the key town of Eastern Ghouta, after after Islamist rebels from Faylaq al-Rahman withdrew, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Rebels said the reinforcements that came from Saqba town enabled them to regain 80 percent of the town.
The Observatory said the number of Syrians leaving eastern Ghouta towards regime lines on Thursday had climbed to at least 7,000.
The people left Hammourieh and other towns nearby, Rami Abdel-Rahman said, director of the U.K.-based monitor.
The regime forces late on Wednesday attacked Eastern Ghouta Suburbs with Chlorine gas and barrel bombs, Syrian Civil Defense said.
The night attack on the village of Hammourieh, has killed 13 people, including 4 children and two women, according to local activists and the rescuing group.
160 sick and injured civilians have been evacuated from the besieged suburbs on Wednesday, in a second batch followed 190 wounded evacuated on Tuesday, local reporter said.
Russia’s Task Command in coastal Hmeimym base, which brokered the evacuation deal, said 350 people have crossed out of the stricken enclave.
Wednesday's bombardment by the regime and its ally Russia has killed 25 civilians, among them three children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"At least 25 civilians including three children were killed on Wednesday, most of them in regime air strikes and others in Russian raids on an area controlled by Faylaq al-Rahman," a rebel group, the Britain-based monitoring group said.
More than 1,400 people have been killed in four weeks of heavy bombing on Eastern Ghouta.
Meanwhile, local authorities outside Damascus say regime forces have cut off their town from a surrounding rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, isolating 20,000 residents with no access to aid.
A member of the local council of Harasta said Wednesday that residents have been in underground shelters for long periods amid heavy bombardment. He said government forces have seized local cemeteries, forcing residents to bury their dead elsewhere, AP reported.
Harasta is in Eastern Ghouta, a rebel-held region that has been under a crippling siege and daily bombardment for weeks. Opposition activists say more than 1,100 civilians have been killed since the latest offensive began in February.
The regime forces have intensified ground and aerial bombing overnight on Douma and Harasta as rebels still show fierce resistance despite the deadliest offensive, local reporter said Wednesday.
The Assad regime and Russia have been carrying out a fierce bombing campaign and ground assault against the besieged enclave since February 18, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a countrywide ceasefire.
Eastern Ghouta is the last remaining opposition-controlled zone on the outskirts of the capital, and rebels there have regularly fired rockets onto Damascus.
Eastern Ghouta is home to around 400,000 people, living under a five-year siege that has made food and medical aid exceedingly rare.
Civil Defense group said rescuing works are underway as tens of bodies are still under the rubble. On Tuesday, they pulled out eight civilians, including seven from the same family, in Zamalka town.
A military media unit run by the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, an ally of the Syrian government, said the army had entirely surrounded the town of Douma.
Rebel groups in Eastern Ghouta have vowed they will fight on. A statement issued by Free Syrian Army factions there late on Saturday said they had taken a decision not to accept a surrender and negotiated withdrawal.
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