The Damascus suburb of Daraya was back under government control on Saturday following the evacuation of rebel forces, their families and other civilians after four years of siege.
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According to the United Nations, almost 600,000 live under siege across Syria, most surrounded by government forces.
Under the deal, the government is to allow safe exit to hundreds of gunmen and their families out of Daraya and let them head to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib.
The aid convoy delivered by the Red Crescent entered Daraya in June, and contained enough food for a month, officials said.
The plight of civilians in Daraya and other besieged areas has always been of concern to the United Nations, which has condemned the use of starvation as a weapon by both sides in the conflict.
United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric stressed that the United Nations was not consulted or involved in negotiations of the deal reached between rebel factions and government forces to evacuate Daraya, which has been besieged since November 2012.
The letter, headlined “On napalm and starvation: An open letter to the world from the women of Daraya”, chronicles how the Syrian government has besieged and bombed the city, including utilising napalm, a chemical weapon banned by global law.
Civilians who want to stay under the government control, will be taken to the town of Hirjalleh, in the southern countryside of Damascus.
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.
Russian Federation and Iran are strong backers of Assad and have been accused of targeting Western-backed rebel forces.
Supporters of the rebels on social media were quick to cite cowardice on the part of the rebel leadership, for handing over the suburb of Daraya to Assad’s forces. “We withstood for four years but we couldn’t any longer”, he said, choking on his words. Nine buses left Daraya on Friday.
Reporting from Geneva, Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays said the Syrian government’s “starvation of surrender policy has actually worked because they have now managed to close down Daraya and remove everyone from Daraya”.
Meanwhile in Syria’s second city, Aleppo, a bloody battle was in full flow.
“With our blood and our souls, we sacrifice ourselves for you, O Bashar!” soldiers chanted of President Bashar al-Assad as the buses drove by. Since early June, Darayya has come under attack nearly daily, with the Syrian government accused of using barrel bombs, shelling and incendiary weapons.
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. Residents and activists say it is 8,000.
The Saturday statement, citing military sources, comes hours after Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria said Turkish airstrikes had hit their bases near Jarablus, a town seized by Turkey-backed rebels earlier this week.
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Insurgents and government forces agreed a deal yesterday to evacuate the town, which the Syrian army has surrounded since 2012.
