The first group of Syrian rebels and their families evacuated from southern Syria after a deal was struck with the government has arrived in the country’s northwest.
A total of 55 buses carrying rebel fighters and members of their families departed the strategic area that adjoins the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Friday, Syria’s official SANA news agency said.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said a first convoy of some 2,800 people had arrived on Saturday at the Morek transit point, in Hama province, which separates opposition from government-held areas. The fighters and their families are expected to be transferred to buses run by local non-governmental organisations before continuing their journey to rebel areas in Idlib and Aleppo provinces.
The evacuations came after a surrender deal was reached
earlier in the week between the opposition and Russian negotiators acting on behalf of the Syrian government. It provides for the safe passage of residents who do not wish to live under Assad rule.
A second group of rebels and their families is expected to begin later on Saturday.
Syrian forces, backed by a Russian air campaign, have been pushing into the edges of Quenitra province following a relentless aerial bombardment campaign last month that routed rebels in adjoining Deraa province.
Pro-government forces have captured 90 percent of the territory through similar surrender deals with the opposition whereby the latter agrees to also hand over medium to heavy weaponry.
On Saturday, Syrian state television announced pro-government forces had captured a string of villages in a zone extending between the two southwestern provinces.
The recent evacuation deal has left the Syrian government in control over large swaths of territory that straddle both provinces and border neighbouring Jordan and Israel.
It has now turned its attention to pockets of territory still in the hands of fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).
The developments in Quneitra came as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Friday urged all parties to the conflict to provide safe passage for the estimated 140,000 civilians displaced as a result of the recent surge in violence. The UNHCR also expressed its readiness to discuss its plans to set up centres for returning Syrian refugees, insisting that returns must be safe and voluntary.
