Syrian rebels set to leave besieged town

The U.N. and foreign governments have tried to broker local ceasefires and safe-passage agreements as steps toward the wider goal of ending Syria’s civil war, in which more than 250,000 people have been killed in almost five years of fighting.

Traveling through Turkey is the safest route for the civilians as a route via Syria would force them to come in contact with the various Takfiri groups present in Idlib.

Simultaneously, some 400 civilians and wounded fighters trapped for months in the Shiite towns of Kfarya and Foua in Idlib province in northern Syria were transported across the border to Hatay province in Turkey, where a plane waited to take them to Lebanon.

“The process is ongoing at a good pace”, Yacoub El Hillo, the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, told the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen channel shortly after the buses and ambulances arrived at the Syrian side on the border with Lebanon.

Government figures and local leaders reached a deal last week to evacuate thousands of jihadists and civilians from southern Damascus, but the agreement was apparently derailed after the death of rebel chief Zahran Alloush on Friday.

On the Lebanese side of the border, dozens of people, including refugees from Zabadani who have been living in Lebanon, gathered to welcome the evacuated fighters, carrying banners describing them as “heroes”.

Militants from Al-Fatah (Army of Conquest) from the Syrian opposition provided road security while the Shiite Syrians were transferred from Fuaa village to Turkey, he said, adding the group maintained security along every 200-300 meters of road.

Residents of Fuaa and Kafraya crossed through the Bab al Hawa border point and are to fly into Beirut to travel overland to Damascus. Hundreds of supporters of Lebanese Hezbollah Movement set off fireworks in celebration in Beirut. The evacuation was facilitated by the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, which in a statement Monday urge the implementation of the rest of the deal, including the delivery of aid. Hezbollah fighters have been killed in battles around Zabadani.

Much of the town was devastated in a major offensive launched in July against the insurgents by the Syrian army and its Hezbollah allies.

Rebel fighters were just about holding out there, but faced nearly certain defeat.