Deadly airstrikes slammed into the last opposition-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta on Friday (April 6th) for the first time in over a week, after talks sputtered over an opposition withdrawal, AFP reported.

Backed by Russia, Syrian troops had captured all of the one-time opposition stronghold of Ghouta -- except for Douma, which is held by Jaish al-Islam.

Jaish al-Islam appeared to have agreed to an evacuation deal, as did other groups in two other areas, and around 4,000 fighters and relatives left the town on Monday.

But the buses at the nearby Wafideen checkpoint stopped filling up, amid reports that the group remained divided and that options other than an evacuation were still on the table.

"There have been 24 airstrikes on residential areas in Douma," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdel Rahman said Friday.

He said at least 32 civilians were killed and 40 wounded.

"There are many injured including women and children, among them critical cases," a member of the White Helmets civil defence organisation told AFP.

Syrian airstrikes hit the town on Friday in response to mortar fire from Douma that wounded seven people near the capital, Syrian state media said.

The nature of the ongoing discussions over Douma is unclear and Jaish al-Islam itself has not stated its position since this week's first evacuation.

Jaish al-Islam had been angling for a reconciliation deal that would allow it to stay in Douma as a police force.

But the group appears to have little leverage to face the regime, and the latest strikes raised fears of a brutal end to the five-year siege of Eastern Ghouta.

"These airstrikes are paving the way for a ground operation. Forces are already amassing there and there is massive pressure on Jaish al-Islam," said Nawar Oliver, an analyst at the Omran Institute.

"The negotiations failed and the regime wants its conditions -- the airstrikes are a taste of what could happen if its conditions are not implemented," he said.