The rebel-held city of Darayya near Damascus is being evacuated by government forces after the last rebel fighters agreed to hand over their weapons and leave.
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The evacuation came after a deal struck by President Bashar Assad’s government and opposition forces in the town, which is close to the capital Damascus and was one of the first to rise up against the regime.
The fighters and their families left the devastated town on buses accompanied by ambulances and Red Crescent vehicles.
Opposition fighters have also been promised safe passage to the rebel held province of Idlib.
Daraya’s rebels agreed to evacuate in a deal late Thursday.
An agreement between the rebels and Assad’s regime was reached Thursday. “The civilians are forced mainly to go to the regime-held areas”.
They said civilians should be evacuated only if their safety could be guaranteed and it was on a voluntary basis.
There’s been a major break-through and relief for residents of Daraya, a besieged suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus.
The United Nations said it was not involved in negotiating the deal, though a UN team was to enter Daraya to identify civilian needs. The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said that Russian Federation has agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire, but that there was no word yet to confirm if rebels would do the same.
It was “imperative” that Daraya’s residents be protected and only voluntarily evacuated, the United Nations envoy said.
In a statement, the United Nations said it was neither involved nor consulted about the evacuation plan, adding, “the world is watching”.
Located just southwest of Damascus, Daraya has been pummeled by government airstrikes, barrel bombs and fighting over the years.
It was one of the first towns to erupt in anti-government protests in March 2011.
Herjalleh is the site of a government housing project for displaced people.
“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. “We withstood for four years but we couldn’t any longer”, he said, choking on his words.
Syrian President Bashar Assad tours the neighborhoods of Daraya, August 1, 2013.
According to State media, under the terms of the deal, 700 armed men will leave for the rebel controlled city of Idlib while 4,000 civilians will move to government shelters.
According to the United Nations, almost 600,000 live under siege across Syria, most surrounded by government forces, although rebels and jihadists also use the tactic.
Only 8,000 people remain in what used to be home for more than 170,000 people.
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Conditions were so bad in Daraya that, amid reports of the army burning local wheat fields, some people were reduced to eating grass and sending their children out to beg, the U.N.’s World Food Programme said.
