Some Syrian rebels to evacuate rebel-held town in Ghouta

BEIRUT — Hundreds of armed rebels and civilians will begin evacuating a besieged town in eastern Ghouta, a rebel spokesman and Syrian government media reported Wednesday, in the first instance of fighters leaving the opposition stronghold east of the capital following a deal reached with the government.

Monther Fares, a spokesman for the powerful Ahrar al-Sham group, said the deal involves the departure starting Thursday of opposition fighters from his group to northern Syria. He said the deal negotiated with the government gives security guarantees for those who decide to stay in the town after the government takes over.

The Syria-controlled Military Media Center said 1,500 armed rebels and 6,000 civilians will evacuate Harasta to the northern province of Idlib as part of a negotiated deal. The Ahrar al-Sham group, headquartered in Harasta, is the smallest of the rebel groups that control eastern Ghouta.

It is the first such deal involving the evacuation of opposition fighters from eastern Ghouta, which has been under a ferocious government air and ground assault for a month.

In other parts of Syria, government forces have also pressed the rebels to enter into local cease-fire agreements under which the militants and their families would relocate to other parts of the country. The Syrian opposition has criticized such agreements.

Eastern Ghouta was one of the hubs of the civil uprising against Assad’s government in 2011, which was to be eclipsed by a violent crackdown by the security services and subsequent armed revolt.