Russia says 175,000 people have left Syria’s Eastern Ghouta

The Russian Defence Ministry has said that more than 175,000 people have left Eastern Gouta since the Russian military offered to guarantee safe passage out of the area for rebel fighters and their families, including more than 33,000 people from Douma.

The ministry added that about 640 armed men have left with their families in the last 24 hours.

The 16th convoy recently arrived in the city of Al-Bab in the Aleppo countryside in northern Syria. Turkey’s Anadolu news agency said the convoy included 13 buses which carried civilians who had been evacuated from Douma.

According to the agency the convoy was made up of 633 people, including 233 children and 180 women who will be distributed to temporary shelters in the town of Kabassin near the city of Al-Bab.

The Syrian news agency SANA reported that buses had been equipped to evacuate the fourth batch of Jaysh Al-Islam fighters from Douma towards the Aleppo countryside in northern Syria.

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