Russia says deal reached on armed groups leaving E Ghouta town

Russia's defence ministry said today an agreement had been reached on armed rebel groups leaving the main town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta.

"Today an agreement has been reached with the leaders of illegal armed formations of fighters and their family members to leave the town of Douma shortly," a senior defence ministry official, Sergei Rudskoi, said at a briefing, quoted on the defence ministry website.

Syrian regime ally Russia has played a crucial role in helping the government gain the upper hand against rebels being evacuated from Eastern Ghouta.

Moscow's military personnel have also directly overseen evacuations of rebels and civilians from encircled opposition zones in the enclave.

Rudskoi said that so far "28,495 peaceful civilians have left via a humanitarian corridor opened in the area of the Al-Wafideen settlement."