Assad moves closer to victory in Syria's Ghouta, as some rebels prepare to quit

The Syrian governmentmoved closer to ending rebel resistance in eastern Ghouta ascivilians streamed out of one of its besieged, bomb-batteredtowns on Thursday and some rebel fighters prepared to surrender.

The army assault on eastern Ghouta, an area of towns andfarmland just outside Damascus, has been one of the most intensein Syria's seven-year-old war, killing more than 1,500 people ina relentless bombardment with war planes, shells and rockets.

A Reuters witness said 15 buses had driven into the town ofHarasta to transport fighters and their families to opposition areas in northwestern Syria in a deal brokered by thegovernment's ally Russia.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rightsmonitoring group said more than 4,000 people had fled the larger rebel-held town of Douma since Wednesday, crossing over intogovernment-held territory.

The Ahrar al-Sham group's decision to surrender Harsataleaves only Douma and another rebel pocket in eastern Ghoutathat includes the towns of Jobar, Ein Terma, Arbin and Zamalka.

The townsare all that remain of the main insurgent strongholdnear the Syrian capital Damascus, the biggest prize for President Bashar al-Assad in his fight against the rebels sincethe recapture of Aleppo in late 2016.

An army officer interviewed on state television urged rebelswho had not yet negotiated a deal to quit. "Death is coming foryou if you do not surrender," he said.

Airstrikes pummelled parts of eastern Ghouta on Thursdaymorning, striking Arbin and Zamalka and killing 19 people, according to the Observatory.

That wasn't the only bombing of the day a Syrian monitoring group and the Syrian Civil Defence reported that an airstrike on a market northwest of the country killed dozens of people.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrike on a market in the village of Harem, in the northwestern province of Idlib, killed 28 people, including 11 children and women. It added that the figure could still rise since many of the wounded are in critical condition.

The opposition's Syrian Civil Defence, also known as White Helmets, said the airstrike killed 37 and caused widespread damage. It said most of the dead were women or children.

Prisoner swap

On Sunday, Assad drove to a newly capturedbattlefront in eastern Ghouta, a demonstration of his seemingly unassailable position in the war that has been going his waysince Russia sent its air force to help him in 2015.

The deal to surrender Harasta is the first by eastern Ghoutarebels and began on Thursday with a prisoner swap. In an interview with state television, a Syrian soldier freed byrebels wept and thanked God and the army for his release.

The Reuters witness at the crossing with Harasta said thearmy had removed barriers from the old frontline lying across the road into the town to allow the buses to pass.

The Russian Defence Ministry website showed what it said was live footage from the al-Wafideen crossing point from Douma intogovernment areas. Over a period of several minutes, it showeddozens of people in small groups coming around a corner andtrekking along the dirt road past armed soldiers.

Some bore bundles of their possessions, others carried smallchildren or pushed prams. Behind were fields and trees. At onepoint in the road a man could be seen in a red shirt with thelogo of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

Douma is the most populous area in eastern Ghouta, and formore than a week it has been entirely surrounded by the government. The Jaish al-Islam rebel group that holds the townhas said it is determined to fight on after a month-long government offensive that has taken 70 per cent of the formeropposition enclave in eastern Ghouta.

However, the Observatory said people leaving the area weredoing so under an agreement between the group and the government's closest ally Russia.

1,500 dead

The Syrian government and Russia have both accused rebels ineastern Ghouta of stopping civilians from leaving the area. They saytheir assault, which the Observatory says has killed more than1,500 people so far, is needed to end Islamist militant ruleover the area's people.

They also say it is needed to end rebel shelling of Damascusand other nearby areas. On Tuesday, a rocket struck a marketplace in a government-held town, killing dozens.

However, the ferocity of the Syrian army's offensive ineastern Ghouta has prompted Western condemnation and urgent pleas from United Nations humanitarian agencies for a ceasefire.

Over the past week, tens of thousands of people have fledacross the frontlines into government territory.

For the Harasta rebels, the journey to Idlib is one alreadywell trodden by insurgents from other areas who surrendered to Assadafter prolonged sieges and intense bombardments of the kind usedagainst eastern Ghouta over the past month.

The northwestern province is the biggest remaining areaunder rebel control in Syria and its population has been doubledby refugees fleeing other areas including many oppositionsupporters.

A military media unit run by Assad's ally Hezbollah onWednesday said some 1,500 fighters along with 6,000 family members would depart Harasta under the agreement with thegovernment.

On Thursday, the same Hezbollah media unit said the army andAhrar al-Sham had started to exchange prisoners as the Harastadeal got under way.