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Russia says over 105,000 civilians have left Syria's Eastern Ghouta - RIA

Syrian forces of President Bashar al Assad are seen around buses carry civilian and rebels outside Harasta in eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria March 23, 2018. REUTERS/ Omar Sanadiki

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Defence Ministry said more than 105,000 people have left Syria's Eastern Ghouta rebel enclave, including another 700 on Saturday since government forces began an assault to retake it a month ago, RIA news agency reported, citing the military.

RIA referred to evacuations taking place during "humanitarian pauses". Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's main ally in the conflict, ordered daily five-hour ceasefires and the creation of a "humanitarian corridor" to allow civilians to leave Eastern Ghouta.

In the event, the offensive - among the fiercest of the seven-year civil war - was largely carried out in defiance of international pleas to halt and honour a truce, and about 90 percent of eastern Ghouta is back under government control.

(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; Editing by Mark Heinrich)