Nine days after Russian-backed regime forces intensified their campaign against the rebel-held enclave, the deal offered some respite to civilians who had been hiding in their basements.
But the first day of a five-hour daily "pause" that was ordered by President Vladimir Putin on Sunday and kicked off at 9:00 am was marred by violence that saw seven people killed yesterday.
Moscow's plan falls short of a broader 30-day ceasefire it agreed to at the United Nations Security Council but which has yet to take effect, and has inspired little trust from among the besieged enclave's 400,000 residents.
But no civilians were seen venturing towards the regime forces guarding the checkpoint, where large portraits of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Putin could be seen side-by-side.
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The "humanitarian pause" ordered by Putin echoed a similar tactic employed by Russia and Syrian regime during the ferocious battle to force rebels out of Aleppo in 2016.
Russia's defence ministry accused armed groups in Eastern Ghouta of shelling the corridor, and said rebel fighters had "continued attacking the positions of the government forces" and "went on the offensive in other directions too".
Some residents left the basements they had been cowering in for days to check on their property and buy food.
But many in the enclave, which lies on the eastern outskirts of the Syrian capital, appeared distrustful of a "pause" announced by Damascus's main ally.
"This Russian truce is a farce. Russia is killing us and bombing us every day," said Samer al-Buaidhani, a 25-year-old from Douma, Eastern Ghouta's main hub.
"I don't believe it's safe for me or my family to leave by this system," he told AFP.
"Under international humanitarian law, humanitarian corridors are things which need to be well planned and must be implemented with the consent of parties on all sides, not only with one side," she told AFP.
Violence levels were significantly lower on Tuesday as the "humanitarian pause" kicked in but seven civilians were killed by regime bombardment, including two children, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
The bombardment intensified again after 2:00 pm, the Britain-based group said.
Since February 18, 582 civilians, almost a quarter of them children, have been killed in the Syrian and Russian bombardment of Eastern Ghouta, making it one of the bloodiest episodes of the country's seven-year-old conflict.
In Damascus, the state news agency said, a civilian was killed and five others wounded by shelling from "terrorist organisations".
In Hammuriyeh, another town in the sprawling semi-rural enclave, Mohammed Abdullah said the pause left civilians with a choice between two evils.
"The truce is not in the people's interest, we have two options: death or displacement," said the 30-year-old.
"The campaign we were targeted with was an extermination campaign, not a simple bombardment. What we want is a full and permanent ceasefire for all of Ghouta," he said.
The letter said such an evacuation, which has been discussed previously but never yielded any result, would take 15 days and start when a UN truce takes effect.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reacted cautiously to the statement and said after meeting French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian that the ball was in the rebel groups' court.
"We shall see in practice whether the pleas by the three illegal armed groups... to carry out the UNSC resolution correspond with their intentions," he said.
The UN Security Council will meet Wednesday afternoon to discuss the humanitarian situation and hear from UN aid chief Mark Lowcock.
The Syrian government lost control of Eastern Ghouta in 2012 and has besieged it almost ever since.
The latest scenario put in place by the regime and its Russian ally was reminiscent of the deal that ended the battle of Aleppo in 2016.
Few civilians back then initially used the Aleppo corridors unilaterally announced by Russia.
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