The largest rebel group in besieged eastern Ghouta has vowed to keep fighting, even as the Syrian government pushes on with an assault that has captured more than half of the rebel enclave.

“Our revolutionary ideology does not allow us to sell the blood of the holy warriors who liberated Ghouta,” Hamza Bayraqdar, the Army of Islam’s chief military spokesperson, said in a video posted online on Tuesday.

“We will stay in Ghouta and defend it.“

Boris Johnson suggests the UK could strike Syria in response to Assad's attack on eastern Ghouta

The announcement comes as Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s forces advanced into the rebel district, capturing more than half of the territory of farms and towns that the opposition has held since 2012. Rebels have repeatedly denied they have been in talks which could see fighters and their families bussed to opposition-held Idlib province in the northwest as part of an amnesty deal similar to Aleppo and Daraya.

A Russian-backed Syrian government assault on Ghouta launched last month has caused more than 1,000 deaths and injured more than 6,000 people, according to monitors and medical charities. The violence is some of the worst of Syria’s seven-year-old conflict to date.

The UN says up to 400,000 people remain in the besieged areas, including the town of Douma.

Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Show all 14 1 /14 Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A Syrian woman and children run for cover amid the rubble of buildings. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Smoke rises from buildings following the attack on the village of Mesraba in the rebel-held besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascu. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Injured children receive medical treatment. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A Syrian man carries a child injured. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures An injured child receives treatment following bombings on several areas of eastern Ghouta. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A child reacts inside a hospital after relatives were injured in the bombing. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian children cry at a make-shift hospital in Douma following air strikes on the Syrian village of Mesraba. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian Civil Defense group extinguishing a store during airstrikes and shelling by Syrian government forces. AP Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A wounded 12-year-old Syrian boy, cries as he receives treatment at a make-shift hospital. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrians carry a wounded man. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures An injured man covered with blood at a medical point. Reuters Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures People sit a medical point in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta. Reuters Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian Civil Defense running to help survivors. AP Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Injured children receive medical treatment. EPA

While appeals for all parties to adhere to a UN resolution demanding a ceasefire have fallen on deaf ears, for the first time on Tuesday a total of 35 people in need of urgent medical treatment and their chaperones were escorted out of the area safely.

Deana Lynn, an American woman living in Douma with her husband, eight children and four children, told The Independent that her family and many others have been using basements to hide from shelling and bombing over the last few weeks.

There were fewer fighter planes and strikes on the town on Tuesday, she said, probably as a result of the evacuations - but like many in the area she didn’t know how long the arrangement would last.

Even as she spoke the thud of an air strike she said was from a Russian plane could be heard in the background, ending the brief respite. A baby began to cry.

Elsewhere in the Syrian capital, the military said it had seized a southern suburb after an evacuation deal which saw 1,000 people bussed to Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold, in the country’s northeast.

The evacuees included some 300 militants from the extremist Ajnad al-Sham faction and their families.

Ms Lynn says she hopes the US and international community can exert pressure on Moscow and Damascus so that her family could avoid a similar fate.

Regardless, everyone in her family has a small bag ready in case they have to flee at short notice.

Syrians make fuel from plastic waste Show all 8 1 /8 Syrians make fuel from plastic waste Syrians make fuel from plastic waste Sifting through plastic: the workshop uses plastic from bottles and other waste materials to produce liquid and gas fuels. The liquid is refined into gasoline, diesel and benzene fuels, which in turn are sold for domestic and commercial use Reuters Syrians make fuel from plastic waste Khodor, 20, at the workshop in the rebel-held and besieged neighbourhood of Douma, Damascus Reuters Syrians make fuel from plastic waste Back to basics: a man checks the heat of a pipe pouring with fuel Reuters Syrians make fuel from plastic waste Khodor, 20, must keep an eye on the burning plastic inside the workshop in Douma Reuters Syrians make fuel from plastic waste A young man takes a container of the locally made fuel, which can be used for domestic heating and on farms and bakeries Reuters Syrians make fuel from plastic waste Abu Fahad on a rest break with his colleagues inside the workshop, where the air is heavy with toxic fumes Reuters Syrians make fuel from plastic waste Fuel drips into a container at the workshop. Most locals are glad of the family-run business, which has restored a degree of normality to the region Reuters Syrians make fuel from plastic waste Khodor extracts fuel from plastic in the workshop Reuters

“I don’t want to leave eastern Ghouta. My children grew up here, it’s my home, this is the place they know.

“I think people in general they don’t want to leave or become displaced. What would they do in Idlib? They would have to look for a home or they’d have to leave for Turkey or Europe.