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Syria: evacuation of rebels and families from Darayya under way Syria: evacuation of rebels and families from Darayya under way
(about 2 hours later)
Syrian rebels and their families have begun evacuating the town of Darayya outside the capital Damascus on Friday, under a deal agreed with the government after a four-year army siege. Rebels and civilians have begun evacuating the Syrian town of Darayya after a four-year army siege, in a blow for the beleaguered opposition.
The fighters and their families left the devastated town on buses accompanied by ambulances and Red Crescent vehicles. The evacuation came after a deal struck by President Bashar al-Assad’s government and opposition forces in the town, which is near Damascus and was one of the first to rise up against the regime.
The first bus to emerge from the town carried mostly children, elderly people and women. The fighters and their families left the devastated town aboard buses escorted by ambulances and Red Crescent vehicles.
A military source told Agence France-Presse that about 300 rebels and their families would be evacuated from Darayya on the first day of the operation. The first bus to emerge from Darayya carried mostly children, older people and women.
The evacuation, which is part of a deal between the government of Bashar al-Assad and opposition fighters in Darayya announced on Thursday, is expected to run until Saturday. Government troops waved their weapons in celebration when buses carrying rebels left the town, and taunted the fighters by chanting pro-regime slogans.
Rebels are being allowed to leave with their personal weapons and have been promised safe transit to the opposition-held Idlib city. Inside Darayya, which has been surrounded by loyalist forces since 2012 and suffered constant bombardment, tearful residents said final goodbyes.
Civilians are expected to be transferred to government-run reception centres for processing and resettlement. “This is the hardest moment, everyone is crying, young and old,” he said on condition of anonymity.
An estimated 8,000 people have remained in Darayya despite a siege that began in late 2012 and constant government bombardment. State news agency Sana, which announced the deal on Thursday, said 700 rebels and their families would go to rebel-controlled Idlib and thousands of civilians would be taken to government reception centres.
The evacuation is expected to last until Sunday, and a military source said the army would then enter Darayya.
A rebel official said the civilians would go to regions under regime control around the capital and rebels will go to Idlib “or sort out their situation with the regime”.
A military source said 300 rebels and their families would be evacuated during Friday.
Darayya council said on Facebook that civilians would be taken to the government-held town of Hrajela in Western Ghouta, outside Damascus.
“From there they will continue to the areas they wish to go to,” it said.
The council said fighters and their families would be taken to northern Syria, escorted by the Red Crescent.
The United Nations said it was not involved in negotiating the deal, although a UN team would enter Darayya to identify civilian needs.
The UN envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said it was “tragic that repeated appeals to lift the siege of Daray … and cease the fighting, have never been heeded”.
It was “imperative” that its residents be protected and evacuated only voluntarily, he said. “The world is watching.”
Daraya was seen as a symbolic bastion of the March 2011 uprising that began with peaceful protests against Assad’s government, before degenerating into a war that has killed more than 290,000 people.
Rebels accused the government of killing 500 people in a military operation in the town in August 2012.
Friday’s evacuation provoked anger and bitterness among opposition supporters, and the rebel said residents wept as they prepared to leave.
“People are saying goodbye to one another, children are bidding their schools farewell, mothers are saying goodbye to the martyrs in the graves,” he said.
The rebel said the decision to evacuate had been taken because of deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
“The town is no longer inhabitable, it has been completely destroyed,” he said.
In four years, just one food aid convoy entered Darayya, in June, shortly after a convoy carrying medicine. The arrival of the food was followed by heavy regime bombardment that residents said stalled distribution.