The evacuation is part of deal that grants safe passage to insurgents from different rebel factions who have been fortified in Darrya for over four years when they took control of the city back in August 2012 and the Syrian army launched a wide-scale operation to force them out.
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Daraya, just 7 km from central Damascus, and flanking an important military airbase, was one of the first places to see peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad.
“The second and final convoy of rebels and civilians came out of Daraya today”, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The rebels who controlled Daraya belonged to two rebel groups: Ajnad al-Sham and the Martyrs of Islam, groups allied with the Army of Conquest.
The deal marked a considerable victory for the Syrian government is securing the area south of the capital, but rebels were defiant while being evacuated, vowing they would return some day to take over the rest of the country.
Gaining control of Daraya is a boost for Mr Assad nd increases the security of his seat of power in the capital. But the United Nations was not consulted on Daraya’s evacuation plan and UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura and UN humanitarian coordinator Stephen O’Brien, voiced deep concern about it on Friday.
Syria’s government denies that it deploys barrel bombs, but their use has been widely attested by outside monitors, including the United Nations, whose Security Council condemned the dropping of incendiary devices a year ago.
“The world is watching”.
“The Daraya file is now closed after the evacuation of all the civilians, armed men and their families under the agreement” reached on Thursday between the regime and rebels, Syrian state television said.
Activists have accused regime forces of cutting off rebel-held areas from food and water supplies by waging long seiges on rebel-held areas in order to force evacuation deals in what has been dubbed “starve or surrender” tactics. “It’s hard, but we have no choice”, he said.
They said civilians should be evacuated only if their safety could be guaranteed and it was on a voluntary basis.
Daraya provided a stark example of the price of rebuffing truce overtures.
The tanks were hit in the area of the Syrian town of Jarabulus, which Turkish forces helped pro-Ankara rebels seize from jihadists on Wednesday, the Dogan news agency said. The Syrian government denies using barrel bombs.
Ayash said the situation became unbearable after the town’s remaining field hospital was bombed and destroyed last week.
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Kerry said the “vast majority” of technical discussions on steps to reinstate the cease-fire and improve humanitarian access had been completed during talks on Friday, and experts would try to finalize the unresolved steps in the coming days.
