Syrian Army Retakes Full Control over Barzeh District in Damascus Province

Damascus Governor General Bashr al-Saban said that the fourth phase of the evacuation deal ended after over 1,000 gunmen that refused to endorse the peace agreement with the army and their family members left Barzeh district.

He further added that a sum of 1,012 people including 455 gunmen left the district. Barzeh was one of the first districts in the Syrian capital that fell to the militants in late 2011, and now with Barzeh under the control of the Damascus forces, the Syrian government has officially cleared the Eastern parts of the province.

Local sources in Northern Damascus reported on Monday that the last group of gunmen and their family members were leaving Barzeh district for militant-held regions in Idlib following implementation of an evacuation deal between the Syrian Army and militants.

The sources said that preliminary measures were done for the evacuation of the last group of gunmen that refused to endorse the peace agreement with the Syrian Army from Barzeh, adding that several buses arrived in Barzeh to transfer them to Idlib province.

Thousands of gunmen and their family members left Barzeh and a number of them remained in the district, applying for government amnesty.

The sources said that after the exit of the last group of gunmen and their family members the army soldiers would take full control over the key district after five years.