Saturday marked the completion of a deal reached on Thursday between the Syrian army and the rebels in Daraya, under which the first batch of civilians and rebels left the town on Friday, while the process was completed on Saturday, Xinhua reported. “It would have killed them all, but because of its weakness it allowed them to leave with their weapons in tow”, said Husam Salameh, a Field Commander with the Ahrar al Sham rebel group.
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The deal concluded for Daraya included the departure of the rebels who don’t want to reconcile with the government along with their families to rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.
The rebel-held town of Darayya has been retaken by the Syrian government.
The town was under siege for four years.
The arrivals were the first since the evacuation of the town just outside Damascus began on Friday under an agreement between the government and the militants. Only one aid convoy carrying food has ever reached Daraya and that was in late 2012 and even then, distribution was halted because of bombardment.
Civilian residents of the town, believed to number around 8,000, have been taken to government-run reception centres pending resettlement.
Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, has endorsed the plan.
Inside the vehicles the rebels remained mostly impassive, although some responded by making the victory sign behind the windows.
The loss of Daraya is a bitter blow for the forces of the Syrian opposition.
“My children, who are three and five, were very surprised to see tomatoes”.
“All we had to survive on was grass”.
Daraya, a drive of just 15 minutes from Damascus, became a symbol of the uprising which started with mass protests.
Anti-regime activists have condemned what they called the forced displacement of Daraya’s inhabitants. Long sieges have compelled opposition forces to abandon territory, which has encouraged the government to adopt “surrender or starve” tactic even more widely.
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United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict.
