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Rebel fighters and their families have begun leaving their last bastion in the Syrian city of Homs under a Russian-backed deal with the government expected to be among the largest evacuations of its kind.
Key points:
- Up to 15,000 rebel militants and their families to leave Homs in coming weeks
- Opposition groups say evacuation deal is 'forcible displacement'
- Rebels head for areas controlled by Turkey
The agreement underlines Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's upper hand in the war, as more militants opt to leave in deals that amount to negotiated withdrawals to other parts of the country.
Several buses drove out of the al-Waer district in Homs, which was an early centre of the popular uprising against President Assad.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 rebels and civilians would evacuate in batches over the coming weeks under the deal, according to opposition activists in al-Waer and war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Britain-based war monitor said the buses would go to the Jarablus area held by Turkey-backed rebels in the northern Aleppo countryside.
Syrian state television said that under the agreement, fighters could stay in al-Waer if they handed over their weapons and settled their affairs with the government.
Homs governor Talal Barazi said he expected 1,500 people to depart on Saturday for rebel-held areas north-east of Aleppo, and that most of al-Waer's residents would stay.
Along with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), Russian and Syrian forces were overseeing the evacuation, which would take about six weeks, he added.
"The preparations and the reality on the ground indicate that things will go well," Mr Barazi said.
"The first stage is expected to move up to 500 rebels with their families to the countryside of Aleppo [province]."
The Syrian government described such deals as a "workable model" that would bring the country closer to peace after six years of conflict.
But the opposition decries them as a tactic of forcibly displacing people who oppose Mr Assad after years of bombardment and siege.
Assad calls evacuation deals the 'real' solution
Mr Barazi said there was communication with other rebel-held areas north of Homs city to reach similar deals.
"We are optimistic that the full exit of armed [fighters] from this district will pave the way for other reconciliations and settlements," he said.
The government has increasingly tried to press besieged rebel areas to surrender and accept what it calls reconciliation agreements.
In an interview with Chinese TV station Phoenix last week, Mr Assad said deals brokered locally with rebels were "the real political solutions".
He added that he had not expected anything from Geneva, where UN-led peace talks ended this month with no breakthrough.
The latest deal follows others that were never fully implemented between the government and rebel groups in al-Waer, which has been pounded by air strikes in recent weeks.
A few hundred rebels from the district have previously been allowed safe passage to Idlib in the northwest.
Militants and civilians have poured into Idlib at an accelerating rate over the last year, bussed out of other parts of western Syria that the government and allied forces recaptured from rebels.
Rebel groups have been on the back foot in Syria, following Russia's intervention in the war on Bashar al-Assad's side, bringing its air power to bear in support of his army and its Iranian and Shi'ite militia allies.
The wide array of mostly Sunni rebel factions includes jihadists as well as some groups supported by the United States, Turkey, and Gulf monarchies.
US denies targeting civilians
The rebel fighters head to an area targeted in recent days by United States airstrikes.
US officials said their planes struck an al-Qaeda gathering in northern Syria on Friday, killing dozens of militants.
They said they found no basis for reports that civilians were killed.
Syrian opposition activists said around 40 people, mostly civilians, were killed in a mosque in the area.
US Army Major Josh Jacques, a US Central Command spokesman, said the US did not target or strike a mosque.
"We targeted an Al Qaeda gathering across the street from a mosque. The mosque does not appear to be damaged following the strike," he said.
Later, a Pentagon spokesman, Eric Pahon, said US surveillance of the target area indicated evening prayers already had concluded before the attack.
He said the building that was struck was a "partially constructed community meeting hall" that Al Qaeda leaders used to gather and "as a place to educate and indoctrinate Al Qaeda fighters".
The powerful ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham group also said the airstrike was carried out by the US-led coalition, adding that "the targeting mosques and places of worship is a war crime".
Reuters