'A few citizens evacuated from East Ghouta'

damascus/london - An elderly Pakistani couple were evacuated Wednesday from the besieged East-Ghouta region, east of the Syrian capital. The Syrian Red Cross (or Red Crescent) has announced this, according to the BBC.

The spouses were the first to have been able to leave the East-Ghouta enclave since Moscow and Damascus announced that they are 'fighting fights' every day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. Then citizens could leave the besieged enclave on certain routes.

East Ghouta has been besieged for years and is in the hands of jihadists. It is Thursday the third day of these fighting pauses, but except for the elderly Pakistani, no civilians from East Ghouta have yet arrived.

The jihadists, mainly members of Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam), shoot according to the Russians and Syrians the routes that evacuees or relief workers should take. The jihadists would not let citizens go, but use it as a human shield. Jaish al-Islam did this a few years ago by driving prisoners around in cages.