The siege of the Damascus suburb of Daraya is finally over.
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In a statement, the office of Staffan de Mistura – UN Special Envoy for Syria – called on the various parties to “ensure that the implementation of this agreement and its aftermath is in full compliance with worldwide humanitarian law and protection standards”.
Rebel forces from Daraya will be taken to the northern province of Idlib, held by the Army of Conquest, a coalition of armed anti-government groups.
On Friday, the first stage of evacuation has been completed, with 585 civilians and armed rebels leaving Daraya.
“The world is watching”, de Mistura said.
According to the United Nations, almost 600,000 live under siege across Syria, most by government forces, although both rebels and jihadists also use the tactic.
Dr. Mohamad Diaa, a 27-year-old general practitioner in Daraya, said he would likely leave Saturday with the rebels heading to Idlib. It was pummeled by government airstrikes, barrel bombs and fighting over the years. In August 2012, around 400 people were killed over several days in a killing spree by troops and pro-government militiamen who stormed the suburb after heavy fighting and days of shelling, according to opposition activists.
An Associated Press journalist who entered the suburb Friday saw a landscape of severely damaged and deserted buildings, some of them charred.
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”.
Sources told Al Jazeera that about 8,000 civilians and 800 rebels would be evacuated from the Damascus suburb, which before the war was home to a quarter of a million people.
The governor noted that the evacuated families are being located to a makeshift center in al-Hirjalleh village in al-Kiswa area to the south of Damascus.
The officials provided the information on condition of anonymity in line with Turkish government regulations. Long sieges have compelled opposition forces to abandon territory, which has encouraged the government to adopt “surrender or starve” tactic even more widely. Rebels there also headed to Idlib, handing the government a significant victory in central Syria. “It’s hard, but we have no choice”, he said.
The Syrian government and its Russian ally are the only ones operating helicopters over Aleppo.
The U.N.’s humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien told the U.N. Security Council earlier this year that severe food shortages were forcing some people in Daraya to eat grass.
Deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Daraya have always been cause for concern and the United Nations said it would send a delegation into the town to assess civilian needs.
The town was under siege for four years.
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Three main rebel groups had been in control of the town ahead of the evacuation deal, namely the Levant Martyr Brigade, the Brigade of the Mother of Believers and the Levant’s Soldiers.
