{"id":243309,"date":"2016-08-27T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-08-27T06:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=243309"},"modified":"2016-08-27T06:00:08","modified_gmt":"2016-08-27T06:00:08","slug":"syria-evacuation-of-rebels-and-families-from-darayya-under-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/08\/syria-evacuation-of-rebels-and-families-from-darayya-under-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria: Evacuation of rebels and families from Darayya under way"},"content":{"rendered":"
Aid workers have begun evacuating thousands of civilians from Darayya, a suburb of Damascus subjected to four years of siege and whose last remaining hospital was destroyed last week by an airstrike.<\/p>\n
The evacuation, which will leave behind none of Darayya\u2019s original residents, began after opposition fighters and the regime of Bashar al-Assad agreed to a deal\u00a0that would end the blockade and allow civilians and militants to leave for other parts of Damascus and northern Syria<\/p>\n
The UN and Red Crescent are overseeing the evacuation, which is taking place almost exactly four years after a massacre in the town by government troops, one of the war\u2019s single worst atrocities, described by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, as \u201cappalling and brutal\u201d.<\/p>\n
Subsequent UN efforts to mediate a truce in Darayya failed, and on Friday the UN\u2019s special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said the UN had not been consulted on the agreement.<\/p>\n
Under the terms of the deal, the 5,500 remaining civilians in the town, will be relocated to other suburbs of Damascus and rural villages. The remaining 1,500 fighters will surrender their weapons and be sent to opposition-held territory in the province of Idlib, near the Turkish border. They are expected to depart on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is unbearable, having to leave your home, surrendering it because of betrayal,\u201d said Abu Samer, a spokesman for the local rebel group. Speaking from Jordan, he added. \u201cI hope nobody ever tastes this bitterness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once a teeming suburb of 250,000 people, Darayya is now a rubble-strewn shell. Nearly all of its buildings have been damaged or destroyed during a punishing and often indiscriminate campaign that gradually whittled down essential services such as schools and hospitals as well as homes and roads.<\/p>\n
Darayya\u2019s proximity to the heart of Damascus and the nearby military airport made it a central battleground for both those fighting to oust the Syrian dictator and those loyal to him. Over time, Syrian forces were supported by Shia militias from Hezbollah, Iraq and Afghanistan, and area became one of the civil war\u2019s three defining battlefields.<\/p>\n