Daraya, which lies in the western Ghouta region, has suffered thousands of helicopter-dropped unguided barrel bombs over the years.
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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 past year.
The evacuation is viewed as a major defeat for the opposition, who have resisted government pressure for four years, and a major success for the Assad regime in what was one of the first towns to launch protests against his rule in March 2011.
Daraya’s rebels agreed to evacuate in a deal late Thursday, after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that left the sprawling suburb in ruins. Fighters reportedly will be allowed to leave for rebel-held Idlib province, near the Turkish border, based on a deal reached with government representatives Thursday.
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.
Another five buses carried 315 civilians, who were taken to a displacement shelter in Hirjalleh. Inside, armed troops guarded the doors as the women tried to hide their faces.
One of Daraya’s fighters, Tamam Abouel Kheir, posted a video message saying, “We are forced to leave”. Issam al-Reis said. “The FSA in Darayya remains undefeated, they will move to Idlib where they will continue to serve the Revolution”. “Today married civilians and families”.
As NPR’s Alice Fordham tells our Newscast unit, some civilians “say they’ll flee with the fighters, because they fear the regime”.
There have been previous deals outside United Nations control to allow similar evacuations of besieged fighters and civilians, or to let people return to their homes after ceasefires were agreed.
During one weekend, opposition activists said more than 200 people were massacred there. “It’s hard, but we have no choice”, he told the AP, speaking from inside Daraya.
Syrian rebels and civilians have started leaving a ravaged and long-besieged suburb of Damascus as part of a deal struck with the government.
Only one humanitarian food aid convoy has entered Daraya since government forces began their siege of the town in late 2012. It has been held by a coalition of ultraconservative Islamic militias, including the Martyrs of Islam Brigade.
An AP journalist who entered the suburb from its northern entrance saw a landscape of severely damaged and deserted buildings, some of them charred.
Friday’s evacuation provoked anger and bitterness among opposition supporters, and the local rebel said residents wept as they prepared to leave. Last week Daraya’s only hospital was hit, rebels and aid workers said. The U.N. estimates there are at least 4,000 civilians still there.
Assad has denied accusations of using chemical weapons, and has consistently complained that USA efforts in his country, including backing rebel groups such as the ones retreating from Daraya, are counterproductive and hypocritical.
More than 5 million people live in “hard-to-reach” areas of Syria, according to United Nations figures, including nearly 600,000 people living in 18 besieged areas – 15 by the government of Syria or its allies, and three by rebels.
The Syrian opposition accuses the regime of President Bashar al-Assad of using siege and starvation tactics to wear down rebel strongholds. But critical sticking points remain unresolved and experts will remain in Geneva with an eye toward finalizing those in the coming days, he said.
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“We don’t want to have a deal for the sake of the deal”, Kerry said.
