Thousands of Islamist fighters and their relatives left the Syrian town of Douma they once controlled as the last evacuations from Eastern Ghouta continued on Friday, a monitor said.

The fighters from the group left overnight and thousands of civilians onboard 85 buses that took them to areas of northern Syria still held by rebels.

The evacuations are part of a deal brokered by Damascus's Russian ally to re-establish regime control on Eastern Ghouta, a area just on the edge of the capital that had escaped government control since 2012.

"After midnight, 85 buses left Eastern Ghouta carrying 4,000 people, both fighters and civilians," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring organisation said.

"Over the past few days, most of the fighters have left Douma in four successive waves," the Britain-based monitor's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said.

The group was the last in the erstwhile besieged Ghouta enclave to resist the exit proposed by Russia but an alleged chemical attack by the regime on April 7 appeared to break their will.

The government has consistently denied the attack and a delegation of experts from the OPCW chemical watchdog arrived in Damascus to investigate. They are expected to start their work tomorrow.

"The evacuation operation should wrap up before the OPCW experts enter Douma," Abdel Rahman said.

According to local medics and a statement by the World Health Organisation, more than 40 people died in the April 7 strike on Douma of symptoms consistent with the use of chemical weapons.

rebels have already handed over or destroyed their heavy weapons and Russia announced on Thursday that the entire territory that was once the Eastern Ghouta rebel enclave was now under control.</s>A team of inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog was on its way to Syria on Thursday to begin an investigation into a suspected chemical weapons attack near the capital that has brought the war-torn country to the brink of a wider conflict, amid Western threats of retaliation and Russian warnings of the potential for "a dangerous escalation."

The fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was expected to head to Douma, where the suspected attack took place and where Russia said rebels had now capitulated to government control. The Syrian government said it would facilitate the mission's investigation, which was to begin Saturday.

Syria and its ally, Russia, deny any such attack, which activists say killed more than 43 people last weekend.

Speaking at the United Nations on Thursday, Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said the top priority had to be to avert a wider war, and he didn't rule out the possibility of a U.S.-Russia conflict. Speaking to reporters after a closed emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Nebenzia said Russia was very concerned with "the dangerous escalation" of the situation and "aggressive policies" and preparations that some governments were making — a clear reference to the Trump administration and its allies.

"We hope that there will be no point of no return — that the U.S. and their allies will refrain from military action against a sovereign state," Nebenzia said, adding that "the danger of escalation is higher than simply Syria."

The imminent arrival of the chemical weapons inspectors came as rebels in Douma surrendered their weapons and left the town for opposition-held areas in the north. Russia's military said Thursday that Douma was now under full control of the Syrian government after a Russian-mediated deal secured the evacuation of the rebels and thousands of civilians after it was recaptured by Syrian forces.

Douma and the sprawling eastern Ghouta region near the capital, Damascus, had been under rebel control since 2012 and was a thorn in the side of President Bashar Assad's government, threatening his seat of power with missiles and potential advances for years. The government's capture of Douma, the last town held by the rebels in eastern Ghouta, marked a major victory for Assad.

Residents in Damascus, who had lived on edge for years because of mortar shells lobbed from eastern Ghouta, celebrated the news. Vehicles carrying Syrian flags were seen driving from Damascus into Douma, chanting in support of the government.

"This is a victory for Syria and the allies of Syria," declared Abboud Mardini, a 38-year old merchant in Damascus. "Eastern Ghouta was the main source of ... terrorists who from there spread throughout Syria."

There was no official government announcement that Douma had been recaptured and no indication that Syrian forces had yet entered the town, where Russian military police were deployed to preserve the peace after an evacuation fraught with difficulties. A single government flag was raised, a war monitoring group said.

Hamza Bayraqdar, spokesman for Jaysh al-Islam, the main rebel group that once controlled Douma, said his fighters had all evacuated. They handed over their heavy and medium weapons, as well as maps of land mines and the tunnels they dug, according to Syrian state media.

Douma and the rest of eastern Ghouta had been a significant rebel stronghold throughout Syria's civil war and its surrender came after years of siege by Assad's troops and a months-long military offensive. It followed weeks of negotiations mediated by Russia that repeatedly were derailed. A truce collapsed last week and the Syrian government pressed ahead with its military offensive.

Then came the suspected chemical attack in Douma, followed by international condemnation and threats of military action.

Amid conflicting tweets about the timing of any retaliation, President Donald Trump said Thursday that an attack on Syria could take place "very soon or not so soon at all." On Capitol Hill, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the National Security Council would be meeting later Thursday to present Trump with various options, adding that he could not talk about any military plans because an attack "is not yet in the offing."

Meanwhile, the British Cabinet on Thursday gave Prime Minister Theresa May the green light to work with the U.S. and France "to coordinate an international response," though it gave no indication of the timing or scale of any action.

President Emmanuel Macron said France had proof that the Syrian government had launched chlorine gas attacks in recent days, adding that his government would not tolerate "regimes that think everything is permitted," though he stopped short of saying whether France was planning military action.

In response to the threats, Assad said Thursday that a potential retaliation would be based on "lies" and would seek to undermine his forces' recent advances near Damascus. Western threats endanger international peace and security, Assad said, and military action would only contribute to the "further destabilization" of the region.

After the back-and-forth coming from Washington, Moscow and European Union capitals, residents in Damascus appeared to have brushed off the threat of an imminent attack.

The streets of Damascus were packed Thursday with people headed to the city's main market, cafes and restaurants. At Nabil Nafiseh, one of Damascus's most famous sweets shops, men, women and children sat outdoors enjoying the evening breeze and nibbling on Arab sweets.

Some residents were defiant. Real estate agent Ahmad Abdul-Rahman said he had brought his wife and three sons from his hometown of Aleppo, where there are no significant military targets, to Damascus to be together in case of an attack.

"I came here to defy the dogs who are threatening Syria," the 43-year-old said. "We don't care about America nor America's strike and we don't care about America's allies. We were not scared in Aleppo and we are not scared in Damascus."

Rafah al-Okda, a 21-year-old nursing student at Damascus University, said she had not changed her routine following the threats.

"Syria is a strong country, but our allies Russia and Iran make us stronger," she said.

Ahmad al-Issa, 46, ruled out a U.S. airstrike, saying Trump has in the past threatened to wipe North Korea off the map, then ended up calling for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Even if he (Trump) fires what he calls smart bombs, at us they will be stupid bombs because they will backfire on him and Syrians will be stronger," al-Issa said.

El Deeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Raf Casert in Brussels and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.</s>Syrian Army soldiers stand next to buses that carry rebels and their families who left Douma, at the entrance of the Wafideen camp in Damascus April 12, 2018. — Reuters picBEIRUT, April 13 — Thousands of Islamist fighters and their relatives left the Syrian town of Douma they once controlled as the last evacuations from Eastern Ghouta continued today, a monitor said.

The fighters from the Jaish al-Islam group left overnight with thousands of civilians on board 85 buses that took them to areas of northern Syria still held by rebels.

The evacuations are part of a deal brokered by Damascus’s Russian ally to re-establish regime control on Eastern Ghouta, a area just on the edge of the capital that had escaped government control since 2012.

“After midnight, 85 buses left Eastern Ghouta carrying 4,000 people, both fighters and civilians,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring organisation said.

“Over the past few days, most of the Jaish al-Islam fighters have left Douma in four successive waves,” the Britain-based monitor’s head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said.

The group was the last in the erstwhile besieged Ghouta enclave to resist the exit proposed by Russia but an alleged chemical attack by the regime on April 7 appeared to break their will.

The government has consistently denied the attack and a delegation of experts from the OPCW chemical watchdog arrived in Damascus to investigate.

They are expected to start their work tomorrow.

“The evacuation operation should wrap up before the OPCW experts enter Douma,” Abdel Rahman said.

According to local medics and a statement by the World Health Organisation, more than 40 people died in the April 7 strike on Douma of symptoms consistent with the use of chemical weapons.

Jaish al-Islam rebels have already handed over or destroyed their heavy weapons and Russia announced yesterday that the entire territory that was once the Eastern Ghouta rebel enclave was now under control. — AFP</s>The Russian military said Thursday that the Syrian government is now in full control of the town that was the scene of a suspected chemical attack on Saturday.

There was no official announcement by Damascus that its forces had retaken the town of Douma, located near the capital Damascus, from rebels. There was also no indication that Syrian government forces had entered Douma on Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

If confirmed, the town's seizure would mark the last stage of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad's takeover of the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta,

President Trump warned Russia in a tweet Wednesday to "get ready" for U.S. missile strikes in Syria in retaliation for the alleged chemical attack that killed at least 40 people, many of them children. The Kremlin, a close ally of Assad, countered that more "serious approaches" were needed to combat the crisis.

More: Trump says Syria attack could be soon or 'not so soon at all'

More: Russia rejects Trump's 'Twitter diplomacy' as dangerous in Syrian crisis

More: Airlines avoid flying over Syria amid threat of missile strikes

The Syrian government and Russia have denied a chemical attack occurred.

Assad said Thursday that Western threats to strike Syria are based on “lies” and seek to undermine his forces’ advances near Damascus.

Assad spoke during a meeting with Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to the supreme leader of his ally, Iran.

The talks stressed that threats of some Western countries to attack Syria,"based on the lies fabricated by these countries and their tools of the terrorist organizations inside Syria, came after the liberation of the eastern Ghouta and the failure of a new bet of those upon which these countries have relied in the war on Syria." Syria's official SANA news agency reported.

“Whenever the Syrian army achieves victory in the field, some western countries rise their voices and intensify their movements in an attempt to change the track of events,” Assad said, according to SANA.

The Syrian president added that the threats endanger international peace and security and that military action would only contribute to the “further destabilization” of the region.

More: Trump isn't ruining the 'element of surprise' with Syria threats, experts say

More: After Syria, a good time for Trump to cancel Putin's White House invitation

President Trump tweeted Thursday: "Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our “Thank you America?</s>Israel's attack on the Syrian Arab Air Force's (SyAAF) Tiyas airbase in Homs province was nothing less than a provocation, Turkish analysts opined, drawing attention to the fact that the airstrike occurred following unconfirmed reports about the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta.

"While Damascus' position and its influence in Syria is growing and Syrian government forces are making considerable progress on the fronts, it is completely unconvincing and illogical to claim that the Syrian authorities conducted a chemical attack," ex-Lieutenant General of the Turkish Armed Forces, Erdogan Karakus, told Sputnik Turkey. "Israel is doing everything possible to destabilize and confuse the situation in the region. These steps are part of yet another provocation on the part of the West."

Moscow denied the allegations, referring to the fact that the Russian Defense Ministry had repeatedly warned about upcoming chemical provocations in the region amid the Syrian Arab Army's (SAA) successful advance. The Russian Foreign Ministry highlighted that "that military intervention under far-fetched and fabricated pretexts in Syria… is absolutely unacceptable and might lead to very severe consequences."

The retired lieutenant general pointed out that the West is hiding the real state of affairs while spreading false information as the truth.

"There is a serious struggle for power and influence, which affects the UN," he said. "Turkey, Russia and Iran are on the one side. On the opposite side are the West, the US and Israel."

'Israel Seeking to Provoke War Between US and Iran'

Major General Beyazit Karatas, a retired Turkish Air Force officer who previously served as a military attaché in Washington, recalled that it is not the first time that Israel has attacked the Tiyas (T-4) airbase, where Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are reportedly located.

"Israel's major task for a long period of time has been to provoke a war between the US and Iran," Karatas opined. "This desire of Israel is supported by Saudi Arabia. But the United States behaves cautiously, taking into account the potential reaction of Russia, Turkey, Iran and China. Therefore, they [the US] do not engage in clashes in the region directly, but provide support to local players, using them for their own purposes."

Why Alleged Douma Attack Appears to Be a Staged Provocation

The retired major general called the claims about the alleged chemical attack in Douma "ridiculous."

"It is presumed that the sarin gas was used that during the [alleged] chemical attack, but in fact it was not used," Karatas said. "If you look at the photos published in Western media, you will clearly see that it was a staged event. If, as it claimed, sarin was used [in Douma], neither the father depicted in the photo could take the child in his hands, nor anyone actually could take these pictures. This is a staged farce."

At the same time, the US, Israel and their Western allies are trying to present chlorine as a chemical weapon, Karatas continued. According to the retired major general, these claims do not hold water: Being a toxic substance, gaseous chlorine is by no means a weapon of mass destruction, he says.

"In order to kill people located in one building, you will need to use at least 50 tons of chlorine. In a word, this is not a substance that can be used as a weapon of mass destruction," he explained.

As for sarin, if this gas was actually used in Eastern Ghouta, no one could be there in ordinary masks, without special protective gear, as they would have died from poisoning, Karatas stressed.

"All of the above shows that the allegations and photographs are nothing more than a staged performance," he pointed out. "As you know, Russia has been previously accused by the West of poisoning [former spy Sergei] Skripal. However, it turned out to be a lie. Today few people in the world believe the West's false statements."

The retired major general underscored that it is quite obvious for "reasonable people" that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would never use chemical weapons under current conditions.

"In addition, if sarin — a gas with high volatility — was used, the biggest losses would be suffered by the Syrian military [deployed in the region] in the first place," Karatas elaborated.

On April 9, two Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jets attacked the T-4 airfield from Lebanese airspace, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The ministry pointed out that five out of eight strikes were repelled by Syrian air defenses. Israel's envoy to Russia was summoned by the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 10 over the incident.

The views and opinions expressed by Erdogan Karakus and Beyazit Karatas are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.</s>DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A team of inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog was on its way to Syria on Thursday to begin an investigation into a suspected chemical weapons attack near the capital that has brought the war-torn country to the brink of a wider conflict, amid Western threats of retaliation and Russian warnings of the potential for "a dangerous escalation."

The fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was expected to head to Douma, where the suspected attack took place and where Russia said rebels had now capitulated to government control. The Syrian government said it would facilitate the mission's investigation, which was to begin Saturday.

Syria and its ally, Russia, deny any such attack, which activists say killed more than 43 people last weekend.

Speaking at the United Nations on Thursday, Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said the top priority had to be to avert a wider war, and he didn't rule out the possibility of a U.S.-Russia conflict. Speaking to reporters after a closed emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Nebenzia said Russia was very concerned with "the dangerous escalation" of the situation and "aggressive policies" and preparations that some governments were making — a clear reference to the Trump administration and its allies.

"We hope that there will be no point of no return — that the U.S. and their allies will refrain from military action against a sovereign state," Nebenzia said, adding that "the danger of escalation is higher than simply Syria."

The imminent arrival of the chemical weapons inspectors came as rebels in Douma surrendered their weapons and left the town for opposition-held areas in the north. Russia's military said Thursday that Douma was now under full control of the Syrian government after a Russian-mediated deal secured the evacuation of the rebels and thousands of civilians after it was recaptured by Syrian forces.

Douma and the sprawling eastern Ghouta region near the capital, Damascus, had been under rebel control since 2012 and was a thorn in the side of President Bashar Assad's government, threatening his seat of power with missiles and potential advances for years. The government's capture of Douma, the last town held by the rebels in eastern Ghouta, marked a major victory for Assad.

Residents in Damascus, who had lived on edge for years because of mortar shells lobbed from eastern Ghouta, celebrated the news. Vehicles carrying Syrian flags were seen driving from Damascus into Douma, chanting in support of the government.

"This is a victory for Syria and the allies of Syria," declared Abboud Mardini, a 38-year old merchant in Damascus. "Eastern Ghouta was the main source of ... terrorists who from there spread throughout Syria."

There was no official government announcement that Douma had been recaptured and no indication that Syrian forces had yet entered the town, where Russian military police were deployed to preserve the peace after an evacuation fraught with difficulties. A single government flag was raised, a war monitoring group said.

Hamza Bayraqdar, spokesman for Jaysh al-Islam, the main rebel group that once controlled Douma, said his fighters had all evacuated. They handed over their heavy and medium weapons, as well as maps of land mines and the tunnels they dug, according to Syrian state media.

Douma and the rest of eastern Ghouta had been a significant rebel stronghold throughout Syria's civil war and its surrender came after years of siege by Assad's troops and a months-long military offensive. It followed weeks of negotiations mediated by Russia that repeatedly were derailed. A truce collapsed last week and the Syrian government pressed ahead with its military offensive.

Then came the suspected chemical attack in Douma, followed by international condemnation and threats of military action.

Amid conflicting tweets about the timing of any retaliation, President Donald Trump said Thursday that an attack on Syria could take place "very soon or not so soon at all." On Capitol Hill, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the National Security Council would be meeting later Thursday to present Trump with various options, adding that he could not talk about any military plans because an attack "is not yet in the offing."

Meanwhile, the British Cabinet on Thursday gave Prime Minister Theresa May the green light to work with the U.S. and France "to coordinate an international response," though it gave no indication of the timing or scale of any action.

President Emmanuel Macron said France had proof that the Syrian government had launched chlorine gas attacks in recent days, adding that his government would not tolerate "regimes that think everything is permitted," though he stopped short of saying whether France was planning military action.

In response to the threats, Assad said Thursday that a potential retaliation would be based on "lies" and would seek to undermine his forces' recent advances near Damascus. Western threats endanger international peace and security, Assad said, and military action would only contribute to the "further destabilization" of the region.

After the back-and-forth coming from Washington, Moscow and European Union capitals, residents in Damascus appeared to have brushed off the threat of an imminent attack.

The streets of Damascus were packed Thursday with people headed to the city's main market, cafes and restaurants. At Nabil Nafiseh, one of Damascus's most famous sweets shops, men, women and children sat outdoors enjoying the evening breeze and nibbling on Arab sweets.

Some residents were defiant. Real estate agent Ahmad Abdul-Rahman said he had brought his wife and three sons from his hometown of Aleppo, where there are no significant military targets, to Damascus to be together in case of an attack.

"I came here to defy the dogs who are threatening Syria," the 43-year-old said. "We don't care about America nor America's strike and we don't care about America's allies. We were not scared in Aleppo and we are not scared in Damascus."

Rafah al-Okda, a 21-year-old nursing student at Damascus University, said she had not changed her routine following the threats.

"Syria is a strong country, but our allies Russia and Iran make us stronger," she said.

Ahmad al-Issa, 46, ruled out a U.S. airstrike, saying Trump has in the past threatened to wipe North Korea off the map, then ended up calling for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Even if he (Trump) fires what he calls smart bombs, at us they will be stupid bombs because they will backfire on him and Syrians will be stronger," al-Issa said.

El Deeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Raf Casert in Brussels and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian military police have been deployed in the Syrian town of Douma as of Thursday, RIA news agency reported, citing Russia's defense ministry.

"They are the guarantors of law and order in the town," the ministry was quoted as saying.

 Earlier on Thursday, Russian news agencies reported that Syrian government forces had taken full control over Douma, which was the last rebel stronghold in the eastern Ghouta enclave outside Damascus.

 

 (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by John Stonestreet)</s>Syrian government forces have retaken the town of Douma, thus gaining full control of the former rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta, according to a Russian military official.

Syrian troops pushed the last rebel fighters out of Douma on Thursday, Major-General Yury Yevtushenko, head of Russia's Centre for Syrian Reconciliation, told local news media.

"Today, a landmark event in the history of the Syrian Arab Republic took place," he was quoted as saying by the Russian agency Sputnik.

"The state flag flown over a building … in the city of Douma marked the regained control over this settlement, and consequently over entire Eastern Ghouta."

There has been no official statement from the Syrian government so far.

Russian military police have been deployed on the ground to take over Douma's security, Russian news agency RIA reported.

{articleGUID}

The developments came after Jaish al-Islam, the last remaining rebel group in Eastern Ghouta, reached a deal with Russia on Sunday under which its fighters would abandon Douma and head for an opposition-held area in northern Syria.

The agreement includes a ceasefire and the evacuation of fighters and civilians from the area.

Under the deal, only the Russian military police, and not the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, are allowed to enter Douma after the evacuation.

Crossing points will be opened to commercial movement as soon as Russian military police enter the city.

The deal also ensures the release of all pro-government prisoners held in Douma.

The agreement came a day after a suspected chemical attack killed at least 80 people and affected hundreds of other Douma residents.

Eastern Ghouta has been under government siege since 2013 as part of its so-called "siege and starvation" tactics.

Assad's next steps

Al Jazeera's Zena Khodr, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said: "This is no doubt a victory for the pro-government alliance because Eastern Ghouta has long been a thorn in the side of the government, right at the doorstep of the capital, Damascus, the government's seat of power."

Pro-regime media outlets are reporting that government forces are already planning their next steps, she said.

"There are territories and districts that are under the control of ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group), and what we understand is that the pro-government alliance is going to focus on those districts to clear them from ISIL fighters in order to consolidate control of the capital and to put the government in a very comfortable position with help from its allies, Russia and Iran."





Douma and Eastern Ghouta have come under heavy ground and aerial bombardment by government forces in recent weeks.

The suspected chemical attack in Douma was the largest of its kind in Syria since last April, drawing international outrage and prompting a war of words between the US and Russia.

Syria's government and Russia have denied the attack took place, but rescuers and medics have reported the deaths of dozens of people, including many women and children.

Three rival draft resolutions to investigate suspected chemical-weapons attacks in Syria failed to pass in the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

However, the OPCW will go head with its fact-finding mission to Douma to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons.

Al Jazeera's Rory Challand, reporting from Moscow, said the government takeover of Douma "will have an impact on the OPCW fact-finding mission".

"The region is now directly under the control of Russian military police and the Syrian government," he said.

"That might have an impact on what they find on the ground when they look for evidence of what happened last weekend."</s>(BEIRUT) — The Russian military announced on Thursday that the Syrian government is now in full control of a town on the outskirts of Damascus that was held by the rebels and that was the site of suspected chemical attack over the weekend.

There was no official announcement by Damascus, however, and no indication that Syrian government forces had entered the town of Douma on Thursday.

If confirmed, the developments would mark the last stage of the Syrian government’s takeover of the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta, on Damascus’ outskirts. Douma and the region of eastern Ghouta was a significant rebel stronghold during Syria’s civil war, now in its eighth year.

Meanwhile, Syrians are bracing for a possible U.S. attack in retaliation to an alleged chemical assault that killed dozens on Saturday in Douma. The Foreign Ministry in Damascus has denounced President Donald Trump’s threat to attack the country as “reckless” and a danger to international peace and security.

The Russian Defense Ministry statement followed a chaotic day in Douma that saw rebels there open fire as opposition fighters were leaving with families under a so-called evacuation deal mediated by Russia to hand over the town to the government and end a months-long military siege.

The Defense Ministry said the situation in Douma, just east of the Syrian capital, was “normalizing.”

According to the war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Russian military is deploying to reassure the remaining civilians in Douma.

Wednesday’s gunfire broke out during the evacuation of the latest batch of civilians and rebels after pro-government supporters attempted to raise government flags over buildings in Douma and chanted in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad before the evacuation of rebel fighters was completed.

Some Russian journalists who had entered the town with a reconciliation delegation were wounded in the melee. The Observatory said more evacuations would take place on Thursday.

The evacuation deal, which brings the last opposition-held area near the capital under government control, has been fraught with difficulties.

Amid earlier disagreements, a truce collapsed last week and the Syrian government pressed ahead with its offensive.

The offensive was followed by a suspected chemical attack in Douma on Saturday that killed more than 40 people and sparked an international condemnation. The United States and allies have threatened to take military action against Syria in response to the chemical attack. Syria and Russia deny the attack took place.

The evacuation deal called for the formation of a local council to administer Douma. Thousands of civilians are staying in Douma, and some fighters are also expected to stay, on condition that they hand in their weapons. More than 13,500 Syrian rebel fighters and their families left Douma this month.

The Observatory said there are still rebel fighters inside Douma, some of them would still be evacuated to the other opposition held areas in northern Syria.</s>Syrian government forces have taken full control over the town of Douma, the last rebel stronghold in the eastern Ghouta enclave outside Damascus, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday, citing a Russian military official.

BEIRUT/MOSCOW: Syrian government forces have raised their flag over the last rebel bastion in eastern Ghouta, taking full control of the town of Douma as insurgents withdraw, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday, sealing a major victory for President Bashar al-Assad.

Eastern Ghouta had been the biggest rebel stronghold near Damascus, but insurgent groups there surrendered after a series of ferocious government assaults aided by Russia under a massive bombardment.

The Jaish al-Islam group in Douma agreed on Sunday to withdraw, hours after a suspected chemical weapons attack on the town that has raised the prospect of U.S. strikes. The Syrian government and Russia have called reports of the attack bogus.

"The raised state flag over a building in the town of Douma has heralded the control over this location and therefore over the whole of eastern Ghouta," Major-General Yuri Yevtushenko, head of the Russian Peace and Reconciliation Centre in Syria, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Russian military police were deployed in Douma on Thursday in accordance with the rebel surrender deal, Russia's RIA news agency reported. Some 40,000 people, including thousands of rebels and their families, are leaving Douma for opposition areas in northern Syria under the agreement.

On Wednesday, a top official from Iran, Assad's other main ally, toured eastern Ghouta and vowed to stand by Syria in the face of "any foreign aggression".

"Syria's enemies are angry because of its military advances against terrorist groups," Ali Akbar Velayati, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's top adviser, told Iranian state TV during his visit to eastern Ghouta's bomb-shattered ruins.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that American missiles "will be coming" to Syria as he and other Western countries weigh military action over the suspected chemical attack in Douma.

Both Syria and Russia have said reports of the attack were fabricated by rebels and rescue workers in the town and have accused the U.S. of seeking to use it as a pretext to attack the government.

Bouthaina Shaaban, a top adviser to Assad, described the army's recapture of eastern Ghouta as a "decisive point" in an interview on Wednesday, saying the rebels' defeat had pushed the West to wage "psychological war" by threatening strikes.

"Consultations are ongoing between the allies and they will not let matters progress as Washington wants," she told Lebanon's al-Mayadeen channel, referring to the alliance of Assad, Russia, Iran and the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah.

In his tweet on Wednesday, Trump referred to Assad as a "gas killing animal". The Syrian president on Wednesday made a public appearance with a group from an international Muslim body in Damascus.
Syrian government fighters remove the last rebels from Douma, completing the Syrian government's recapture of former rebel stronghold Eastern Ghouta.