Evacuation gathers pace

• Regime forces now hold 90 percent of rebel bastion

• Talks are underway for deal over final pocket of Ghouta

Nearly 2,000 Syrian rebels and civilians began leaving a ravaged pocket of Eastern Ghouta yesterday, in fresh evacuations that further emptied the former rebel bastion.

Five weeks since the Syrian regime launched an all-out assault on Ghouta, it holds more than 90 percent of the onetime opposition stronghold on the edge of Damascus.

To help it capture the rest, key backer Russia has held talks with various rebel groups to negotiate withdrawals from the three remaining pockets.

One area was emptied in recent days under such a deal and evacuations began late Saturday for a second part, held by the Islamist Faylaq al-Rahman rebel faction.

That agreement is set to see some 7,000 rebels and civilians bussed from the towns of Arbin and Zamalka and the district of Jobar to the rebel-dominated province of Idlib in northwestern Syria.

Talks are also underway for a deal over the third and final pocket of Ghouta, held by Jaish al-Islam, which includes the region's largest town, Douma.

Around 980 of them quit Ghouta late Saturday, travelling overnight on buses and ambulances to northwest Syria.

Evacuations resumed yesterday, with more than 1,800 fighters, relatives, and other civilians boarding 26 buses to leave Ghouta, state news agency SANA said.

The buses waited for several hours at the Arbin crossing, which divides Ghouta from government-controlled territory, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

At midday, a group of rebels could be seen descending from the vehicles to begin the Islamic noon prayer, their weapons glinting in the sunlight.

"I fled the bombs. I decided to leave to save the lives of my wife and children," said Abu Mohammad, a 27-year-old fighters.

An AFP correspondent saw the convoy of buses and escorting vehicles beginning to exit Ghouta and drive onto the nearby main highway yesterday afternoon.

Residents of Arbin, Zamalka, and Jobar had been bidding tearful farewells to their hometowns all morning, dragging shabby suitcases past bombed-out buildings.

Hamza Abbas, an opposition activist in Zamalka, told AFP he was planning to board the buses too.

"People are very sad about leaving their homes, their land, their childhood memories and the place where they spent the best days of their childhood," he said.