Evacuation of Syrian rebels starts

HUNDREDS of Syrian rebels and their families began evacuating yesterday from a district in Damascus for the first time since war broke out six years ago.

The rebel pullout from Barzeh comes days after the start of a deal brokered by regime backers Russia and Iran and rebel supporter Turkey for de-escalation zones across Syria.

The Syrian government has touted evacuation deals providing fighters who surrender safe passage to other rebelheld territory as reconciliation agreements. The opposition says they are forced into these agreements after months or years of siege and army bombardment.

The tactic has attracted international concern, with allegations that the government is pursuing a starve-or-surrender policy against opposition areas.

Syrian state television said armed men and some of their families had begun leaving Barzeh yesterday on buses heading to northern Syria, with the operation to continue for five days.

Those who wanted to stay should register with the government, it said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said up to 1 500 people, mostly rebels, would be boarding the buses to the Idlib province.

Negotiations were ongoing for a similar deal in the district of Qabun, in Damascus’s northeast, which forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been shelling heavily for weeks.

“We are working on Qabun and there is the Yarmuk camp, where talks are under way for the evacuation of armed groups,” Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said.

A deal sponsored by rebel-backer Qatar and regime ally Iran saw nearly 11 000 people evacuated last month from the government-held towns of Fuaa and Kafraya and the rebel-controlled towns of Zabadani and Madaya.

The operation left Madaya and Zabadani under government control, but civilians and government fighters are still present in Fuaa and Kafraya.