One of the main militant groups active in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta says it is negotiating with the United Nations about a ceasefire, as the government troops constantly shrink the militant-held areas of the flashpoint region.
“We are engaged in arranging serious negotiations … The most important points under negotiation are a ceasefire, ensuring aid for civilians and the exit of medical cases and injured people needing treatment outside Ghouta,” Reuters quoted Wael Alwan, the Istanbul-based spokesman for Failaq al-Rahman militant outfit, as saying in a voice recording on Sunday.
The militant group, which bears ties with the so-called Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army militant group, added that the subject of “exit and evacuation” was “not on the table.”
The development came on the same day that Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that thousands of civilians had managed to leave Eastern Ghouta as militants have been raining rockets on the capital Damascus from the suburb area, while using civilians there as human shields, preventing their exit through safe passages set up by Russia and blocking their access to humanitarian aid.
The evacuees were reportedly provided with basic commodities upon arrival at Syrian army posts before being transported to temporary accommodation centers.
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