Syrian rebels agree to pull out of siege town

SYRIAN rebels and their families were expected to leave a besieged town in the eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, in an evacuation deal that will see the town handed over to the government following years of siege.

Rebels released 13 prisoners of war ahead of the evacuation.

The deal is the first such arrangement made for a town inside the beleaguered eastern Ghouta enclave, which has endured a month of relentless shelling and bombardment as the government, backed by its ally Russia, pushed to retake the area after seven years of revolt.

The agreement could serve as a blueprint for other towns in the enclave.

State-affiliated al-ikhbariya TV’S Rabieh Dibeh said 10 buses had crossed into the town of Harasta to transport the “terrorists”, as the government refers to all armed opposition fightvideo ers, to a rebel-held province in north Syria.

The camera showed dozens more buses waiting to enter Harasta.

Critics say it is a formula for displacement that lets the state choose its citizenry and expel those opposed to or fearful of President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian rule.

Some 6,000 civilians are expected to leave with the militants, some of them family members of the rebels and others activists,.

An unknown number of others have already been forced out of their homes or killed in the government’s ferocious campaigns against Harasta and eastern Ghouta leading up to the deal.

The UN and Red Cross are not involved the evacuations; they are being done in conjunction with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

The deal is modelled on others that have had rebels surrender territory around the capital and other major cities to the government.