Syrian rebels left an enclave in south Damascus Thursday, state media said, the last in a string of rebel towns that have surrendered around the capital in recent weeks.
A pocket near Homs city remains the only besieged enclave in rebel hands across the country, though insurgent factions still hold tracts of the northwest and southwest along Syria's international borders.
Fierce offensives and evacuation deals have helped President Bashar Assad's military wrestle back control of much of Syria, with support from Russia and Iran.
State television said 15 buses shuttled fighters out of Beit Sahm, Babila, and Yalda south of the capital.
"The towns have become empty of terrorist presence," a state TV correspondent said from the outskirts of Beit Sahm.
Hundreds of people have left since last week. Under the deal, the buses take fighters and civilians who refuse the return of state rule to insurgent territory in the north near the Turkish border.
Regime forces pounded militants in a small adjacent zone also south of Damascus, state news agency SANA said. Daesh (ISIS) militants have been holed up there after weeks of intense bombardment on the Al-Hajar al-Aswad district and Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.
Meanwhile, the evacuation operations have been suspended for three days in central Hama and Homs provinces as the Turkish authorities say areas under its control are overloaded with displaced and the relief organizations can not afford the proper service for new displaced batches after receiving about 70000 people in the last few weeks.
Sources told Zaman al-Wasl taht the local negotiation committee in Rastan agreed with Russia to delay the evacuation efforts for three days in order to arrange better leaving conditions for rebels and their families.
Turkey argued that there were no places because of the influx of large numbers of displaced people as at least 25000 people were scheduled to leave central Syria.
Hundreds of displaced people from southern Damascus and northern Homs province have been stranded at the gate of Abu al-Zendan, the main gate to the Turkish-backed forces in Jarabulus and al-Bab towns before changing the destination to Idlib.
A displaced woman from northern Homs died of heart attack at the gate of al-Bab town on Tuesday as activists blamed the Turkish-backed Euphrates Shield forces for delaying the entry of the evacuees.
Rebels representing several major Free Syrian Army factions capitulated to a Russian-imposed deal after marathon talks with Russian generals on May 2 in Dar al-Kabira town in the northern Homs countryside.
The deal forced them to hand in heavy weapons and gave those rebels not ready to make peace with the army the option of leaving with light arms to rebel-held areas in northern Syria, Reuters reported.
Russia exerted pressure by pounding the main towns of the enclave, where over 300,000 inhabitants live, in an escalation that killed and wounded dozens, rebels and residents said.
The war has been going Bashar Assad’s way since Russia intervened on his side in 2015. From holding less than a fifth of Syria in 2015, Assad has recovered to control the largest chunk of the country with Russian and Iranian help.
A major bombing campaign that began last February ended the last remaining pockets of opposition resistance in the Eastern Ghouta, the biggest enclave around the capital, that had for years withstood a siege and successive army onslaughts. Zaman Al Wasl, Agencies
Zaman Al Wasl
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