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. “There isn’t a single armed man there”, the source told AFP of the insurgents, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Advertisement
Syria’s official news agency, SANA, reported on Saturday that 4,000 civilians were to be directed to reception centers and at least 700 rebels escorted to the militant-held city of Idlib in northwest Syrian.
The city of Darayya came under army control after militants and civilians were evacuated under a deal with the government.
Their failure to reach an overall deal highlighted the increasingly complex situation on the ground in Syria – including new Russian-backed Syrian government attacks on opposition forces, the intermingling of some of those opposition forces with an al-Qaida affiliate not covered by the truce and the surrender of Daraya – as well as deep divisions and mistrust dividing Washington and Moscow. “They headed to Idlib inhabited area on buses”, the ministry said in a daily bulletin posted on its website.
A Syrian Army general said that some 300 families of fighters would leave the town on Friday, Reuters reports. It provides a further boost for the Syrian army as it fights militants for control over Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. The United Nations said it was not involved in negotiating the deal, although a UN team would enter Daraya to identify civilian needs.
But the United Nations was not consulted on the plan and UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura and UN humanitarian co-ordinator Stephen O’Brien, voiced deep concern about it on Friday.
The statement says “the world is watching”.
Daraya is located just a 15-minute drive from the capital and lies even closer to the government’s vital Mazzeh air base. Rebels accused the government of killing some 500 people in a military operation in Daraya in August 2012.
“People are saying goodbye to one another, children are bidding their schools farewell, mothers are saying goodbye to the martyrs in the graves”, he said.
The town was under siege for four years.
The loss of Daraya is a bitter blow for the forces of the Syrian opposition.
The Syrian civil war started as a largely peaceful uprising against President Assad in March 2011, but quickly developed into a full-scale war.
In June, activists said the Syrian regime pounded the besieged city with barrel bombs just hours after food aid was delivered to the area for the first time in nearly four years.
The arrival of the food aid was followed by heavy government bombardment that residents said stalled distribution.
Advertisement
Daraya is the latest rebel-held area to surrender to government troops following years of siege.
