Dozens Leave Besieged Syrian Enclave Under Evacuation Deal

BEIRUT — More than 100 people left a rebel-held enclave in Syria on Tuesday after rebel forces reached a medical evacuation agreement with the Syrian government’s ally, Russia. The deal, brokered by the United Nations, came weeks after government forces began a ferocious assault to retake the insurgent stronghold.

One hundred and seventy people — 31 of them sick or wounded, along with their families — were evacuated from eastern Ghouta to Damascus, Syria’s capital, through a checkpoint near Douma.

They were but a small fraction of the estimated 1,000 people in need of emergency medical treatment but unable to get it within the besieged enclave, according to the Syrian American Medical Society.

“We honestly feel reborn now that we have left Ghouta safely,” one resident told Syrian state television, which showed footage of the evacuation, facilitated by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

The government onslaught has killed more than 1,400 civilians since mid-February. Hospitals have been bombarded and medical supplies depleted, leaving residents weary and desperate. Hundreds of civilians have spent weeks huddled in underground bunkers — which grow more overcrowded and unsanitary by the day — out of fear of being bombed or shelled.

One resident, Ward Mardini, has been sharing an underground shelter with more than 200 people. On Tuesday, she posted a letter to rebel groups on social media on behalf of those in the shelter. Residents were weary, the letter said, of rebel calls for steadfastness amid countless civilians deaths and the destruction of their homes.

“For God’s sake, we believe you that Ghouta is very precious for you,” she wrote. “But we are tired, and we want a realistic solution to stop this waterfall of blood.”

Fleeing eastern Ghouta has been riddled with challenges — often life-threatening ones — for the estimated 393,000 residents of the enclave, despite a 30-day cease-fire endorsed by the U.N. Security Council nearly a month ago.

Although Russia announced the opening of two humanitarian corridors to the north and the south and a daily five-hour window for humanitarian aid, the attacks have scarcely subsided, making safe passage for civilians rife with peril. As government warplanes drop bombs, rebel snipers on the ground have reportedly shot civilians trying to reach the government side.

Last week a spate of protests erupted, with frustrated residents calling for rebel groups to leave in the hope that if they did, the government would cease its bombardment.

“All of them want this to end today before tomorrow,” Mardini said in her letter to the rebels. “All of them are tired of bombing and siege.”