Thousands of Syrian fighters and their relatives will be evacuated from Harasta, a besieged town in Eastern Ghouta, to an opposition-held province in northern Syria, state media and a rebel group have said.

The Russian-brokered deal was reached on Wednesday after a meeting between a Syrian government delegation and representatives of residents and fighters in rebel-held Harasta.

"Evacuation for families who want to leave will begin tomorrow at 7am (05:00 GMT)," Munther Fares, spokesperson for the Ahrar al-Sham group, which holds Harasta, said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Gunmen and civilians who choose to leave will have Russian guarantees."

Addounia TV, a state-run outlet, said that 1,500 gunmen and 6,000 family members would be evacuated on Thursday in two groups to Idlib.

Harasta is home to 20,000 people.

"Families who want to stay [in Harasta] will be given guarantees by the Syrian government and the Russians that no harm will come to them, and that the city will not be subjected to displacement or demographic change," Fares said.

He added that civilians inside and outside Harasta would form a committee to follow up the affairs of those remaining in the city and prisoners.

A member of the Harasta Council confirmed the news to Al Jazeera, saying the evacuation includes gunmen and civilians, including people needing medical assistance.

'Anything can happen'

The evacuation deal marks the first time opposition fighters have been able to leave rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, which has been subjected to an aerial offensive carried out by Syrian government forces and Russian fighter jets for more than a month.

However, Tayyim al-Siyoufi, a Harasta-based activist, told Al Jazeera that although the agreement has been reached, it remains to be seen whether it will be upheld in time for the scheduled evacuation.

"Anything can happen," he said. "We are in a worse position than other towns in Ghouta ... we'll see if the deal goes through or not."

With Harasta occupying just two square kilometres, al-Siyoufi said civilians are feeling the brunt of the air attacks more intensely.

"Every day there are 20 warplanes hovering above us that fire around 200 shellings," he said.

'Overwhelming' situation for displaced Ghouta residents

The Syrian army has now recaptured 80 percent of Eastern Ghouta, which lies on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus, and was once its breadbasket.

According to the White Helmets, a voluntary group operating in parts of rebel-controlled Syria, at least 1,252 documented civilians have been killed in the offensive.

More than 4,000 people have been wounded, with 2,990 air raids targeting the region.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled Eastern Ghouta, which used to have a population of around 400,000.

Ingy Sedky, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Damascus, said that there are at least four shelters accommodating those who escaped the region: Herjellah, Dweir, Maahad al-Kahraba and Nashabeyah.

"According to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), they are now responding to the needs of more than 25,000 people," Sedky told Al Jazeera. "But it is very hard to know how many people have already left since they keep coming and moving constantly."

SARC has been providing bread packs for 15,000 people, Sedky said.



"We provided canned food parcels that should be enough for 20,000 people for a month, as well as hygiene kits and daily essentials like mattresses, blankets, solar lamps to 15,000 people."

Yet the situation, she continued, is "overwhelming".

"Many of the people came with only the clothes they were wearing," she said. "In each shelter we visit, you could see a huge number of people queuing in front of the SARC mobile clinics, many in very poor health condition due to years spent without proper access to medical care. The journey was especially hard for the elderly and those with limited mobility."

"It is extremely challenging for all humanitarian actors to cover all the needs as thousands of people keep coming every day [at least till yesterday] but we are doing all we can to cope with the current influx." </s> Thousands of Syrian fighters and their relatives will be evacuated from Harasta, a besieged town in Eastern Ghouta, to an opposition-held province in northern Syria, state media and a rebel group have said.

The Russian-brokered deal was reached on Wednesday after a meeting between a Syrian government delegation and representatives of local residents and fighters in rebel-held Harasta.

"Evacuation for families who want to leave will begin tomorrow at 7am (05:00 GMT)," Munther Fares, spokesperson for the Ahrar al-Sham group, which holds Harasta, said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Gunmen and civilians who choose to leave will have Russian guarantees."

Addounia TV, a state-run outlet, said that 1,500 gunmen and 6,000 family members would be evacuated on Thursday in two groups to Idlib.

"Families who want to stay [in Harasta] will be given guarantees by the Syrian government and the Russians that no harm will come to them, and that the city will not be subjected to displacement or demographic change," Fares said.

He added that civilians inside and outside Harasta will also form a committee to follow up the affairs of those who remained in the city and of the prisoners.

A member of the Harasta Council confirmed the news to Al Jazeera, saying the evacuation includes gunmen and civilians, including people needing medical assistance.

The evacuation deal marks the first for opposition fighters to leave rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, which has been subjected to an aerial offensive carried out by Syrian government forces and Russian fighter jets for more than a month.

However, Tayyim al-Siyoufi, a Harasta-based activist, told Al Jazeera that although the agreement has been reached, it remains to be seen whether it will be upheld in time for the scheduled evacuation.

"Anything can happen," he said. "We are in a worse position than other towns in Ghouta ... we'll see if the deal goes through or not."

With Harasta occupying a space of just two square kilometres, al-Siyoufi said civilians are feeling the brunt of the air attacks more intensively.

"Every day there are 20 warplanes hovering above us that fire around 200 shellings," he said.

The Syrian army has now recaptured 80 percent of Eastern Ghouta, which lies on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus, and was once its breadbasket.

According to the White Helmets, a voluntary group operating in parts of rebel-controlled Syria, at least 1,252 documented civilians have been killed in the offensive.

More than 4,000 people have been wounded, with 2,990 air raids targeting the region.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled Ghouta, which used to have a population of around 400,000.

Ingy Sedky, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Damascus, said that there are at least four shelters accommodating those who escaped the region: Herjellah, Dweir, Maahad al-Kahraba Institute and Nashabeyah.

"According to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), they are now responding to the needs of more than 25,000 people," Sedky told Al Jazeera. "But it is very hard to know how many people have already left, since they keep coming and moving constantly."

SARC has been providing bread packs for 15,000 people, Sedky said. 

 

"We provided canned food parcels that should be enough for 20,000 people for a month, as well as hygiene kits and daily essentials like mattresses, blankets, solar lamps to 15,000 people."

Yet the situation, she continued, is "overwhelming".

"Many of the people came with only the clothes they were wearing," she said. "In each shelter we visit, you could see a huge number of people queuing in front of the SARC mobile clinics, many in very poor health condition due to years spent without proper access to medical care. The journey was especially hard for the elderly and those with limited mobility."

"It is extremely challenging for all humanitarian actors to cover all the needs as thousands of people keep coming everyday [at least till yesterday] but we are doing all we can to cope with the current influx." </s> Syrian rebels and their families are to be evacuated from a key town in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region as part of an agreement with the government.

State media said 1,760 people had left Harasta, but a BBC Arabic correspondent said he had seen no buses depart yet.

Military sources said a total of 700 rebels and 1,300 civilians would be driven to Idlib province on Thursday.

The evacuation deal is the first agreed since the offensive on the Eastern Ghouta was stepped up a month ago.

A monitoring group says the air and ground assault has killed 1,500 civilians, injured 5,300 others, and forced 82,000 to flee in recent days.

Government soldiers and allied militiamen have driven rebel forces out of about 70% of the region, cutting it into three pockets – one of them around Harasta.
• ‘We will stay until the end’: A doctor’s battle in Eastern Ghouta
• Why is there a war in Syria?

How many people are leaving Harasta?

The opposition council said 20,000 civilians were trapped there last week.

It said air and artillery strikes by the government and its allies during their five-year siege of the Eastern Ghouta had deliberately targeted civilians in the town and destroyed its infrastructure, denying them access to food and medical treatment.

Despite the onslaught, a Syrian military source told Reuters news agency that more than 18,000 people were expected to stay in Harasta under government rule

Another 2,000 people, including 600 to 700 rebels from the Ahrar al-Sham group, would leave for Idlib on 40 buses on Thursday, the source added.

On Wednesday, state media reported that a total of 1,500 rebels and 6,000 civilians were expected to be evacuated under the deal with the government.

What has happened so far?

The implementation of the deal began on Thursday morning with a prisoner swap.

State TV reported that 18 people were freed, 13 of them held by the rebels. It interviewed a soldier among them, who thanked God and the army for his release.

Later, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent confirmed that its personnel had entered Harasta and it posted photos of them helping civilians on to buses.

By 17:00 (15:00 GMT) on Thursday, a total of 1,760 people, including 308 rebels and 577 children, had left Harasta in buses, the official Sana news agency reported, without specifying their destination.

But a BBC Arabic correspondent waiting outside Harasta said no buses had left.

AFP news agency cited a military source as saying the buses were in a buffer zone, waiting to cross into government-controlled territory.

Will other towns be evacuated?

Ahrar al-Sham fighters in Harasta agreed to lay down their weapons in return for safe passage to Idlib, home to more than 2.6 million people.

Spokesman Monther Fares told the Associated Press that they had faced “civilian pressure” as a result of the intense air strikes, which had forced people to live underground for three months.

The BBC’s Martin Patience in Beirut says the deal may put pressure on the rebel groups that control other parts of the Eastern Ghouta to follow suit.

Similar deals have been on the table with Jaysh al-Islam – which controls the northern pocket around Douma – and Faylaq al-Rahman – which controls the southern pocket around Arbin and Zamalka – but have yet to get anywhere.

Both factions have vowed to keep fighting, even as they have been driven further and further back.

Government air strikes on the southern pocket killed at least 19 people on Thursday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based monitoring group also said more than 4,000 civilians had fled Douma on foot and crossed into government territory through the al-Wafideen checkpoint over the past 24 hours. The civilians were leaving under an agreement between Jaysh al-Islam and Russia, it added.

Rockets and mortars are also still being fired by rebels into government-held districts of Damascus. A police source told Sana that two civilians were killed and four others injured by a shell that hit the Barzeh area on Thursday. BBC </s> Syrian rebels and their families were expected to leave a besieged town in the eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus on Thursday, 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 one 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 cast the deal as a victory for the country. Its correspondent Rabieh Dibeh said 10 buses had crossed into the town of Harasta to transport the "terrorists" — as the government refers to all armed opposition fighters — 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 depart with the militants, some of them family members of the rebels and others activists, and other people afraid of the government's vindictive security services. 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 United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross are not facilitating the evacuations; they are being done in conjunction with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

The deal is modeled after others that have had rebels surrender swaths of territory around the capital and other major cities to the government. In all cases, the arrangements followed indiscriminate campaigns by the government against hospitals, markets, and other civilian targets, driving thousands of civilians out of their homes.

Harasta appeared in ruins in a broadcast from al-Ikhbariya, and apartment blocks in the town looked gutted. Monther Fares, a spokesman for the rebel faction Ahrar al-Sham, confirmed that his group's fighters were preparing to depart.

The government-controlled Military Media Center said 1,500 rebels and 6,000 civilians would leave Harasta on Thursday.

The 13 men released by the Syrian rebels ahead of the evacuation identified themselves to the media as soldiers and civilians attached to the Syrian army, who were captured by rebels in the fighting for Harasta. In the TV footage, many cried in relief, thanking God, the Syrian army, and President Assad for their freedom.

Al-Manar TV, which belongs to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a key Assad ally, said the government released five "terrorists" to rebels, in exchange.

Fares said the rebels agreed to leave because of "civilian pressure" resulting from intensive airstrikes and "warplanes that do not leave the sky," adding that residents of Harasta have spent the last three months inside shelters.

Russia, a military backer of Assad, was the guarantor of the deal, he said.

Also Thursday, civilians streamed out of another part of the eastern Ghouta, continuing a trend that has seen close to 50,000 people flee across lines to the government for safety.

The Russian military said more than 1,000 civilians left rebel-held suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday morning. Maj. Gen. Vladimir Zolotukhin told Russian news agencies in Syria the civilians left through the Wafideen crossing.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said some 4,000 people departed the besieged town of Douma in the last 24 hours.

An Associated Press journalist in Damascus, Syria and AP writer Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report. </s> Thousands of residents from two rebel-besieged loyalist towns in northwestern Syria have been evacuated to government-controlled territory as part of a deal that will see hundreds of detainees released from state-run prisons.

The last remaining residents of the predominantly Shia towns of al-Foua and Kefraya, estimated at 6,000, departed after more than a hundred buses arrived early on Thursday to transport them to government-held territory in Aleppo province.

On Wednesday, rebels from Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham - a group formerly linked to al-Qaeda - and Iran-backed forces reached an agreement to evacuate people in exchange for the release of more than 1,500 civilians and rebels held in state prisons.

Thursday's evacuation began with ambulances ferrying out the sick to a government checkpoint before 121 buses departed the villages, state-run al-Ikhbariya TV said.

The villages of northern Syria's Idlib province - the last major rebel stronghold in the country - had been under siege for more than three years.

A deal for the evacuation of residents from the two Shia-majority towns was first reached in April 2017 but had only partially materialised with only a group of people evacuated to government-held areas.

The April evacuation was halted after a blast killed 150 people, including 72 children.

Iran, which backs the government of President Bashar al-Assad against the mainly Sunni rebels and has expanded its military role in Syria, has long taken an interest in the fate of the Shia residents of the two towns.

In the past two years, thousands of people, mostly from rebel-held areas, have been forced to move to territories controlled by the rebels as part of evacuation deals.

The opposition has consistently maintained that such evacuation deals amount to forced demographic change and deliberate displacement of Sunni populations away from the country's urban centres.

They accuse Tehran of attempting to change the demographics in areas close to Damascus with the goal of partitioning the country.

Another opposition source said the resumption of talks was aimed at deterring a potential military campaign by pro-government forces on the two towns.

Idlib is part of a de-escalation deal - signed by Iran, Russia and Turkey - that calls for the cessations of hostilities between rebel groups and government forces.

The agreement, which initially included Eastern Ghouta in the northern Damascus countryside and Deraa province in the south, has already been broken with government forces, backed by Russian air support, in control of much of the territory. </s> Hundreds of Syrian opposition fighters and their relatives began evacuating a key besieged town in eastern Ghouta on Thursday, marking the first such opposition surrender from the bombed-out region east of Damascus.

The departure of opposition fighters from the powerful Ahrar al-Sham group could serve as a blueprint for other rebels in other towns, bringing the Assad regime closer to recapturing the entire territory following years of siege and relentless bombardment.

Syrian TV broadcast footage showing dozens of white buses that had been parked along a main highway for hours, with opposition fighters and civilians on board, start to drive out in a long convoy. It said among the 1,580 evacuees were 413 gunmen. More are expected to leave in coming days.

As the opposition prepared to depart the town of Harasta, thousands of civilians streamed out of other areas in eastern Ghouta that were still being bombed by the regime. They included dozens of civilians who appeared to be wounded, some hobbling on crutches, another with an eye injury.

The regime's assault has sparked a tide of displacement in the Damascus suburbs as civilians try to escape the violence. Some have moved deeper into the opposition-held enclave, while some 50,000 others have crossed the front-lines, to regime authorities.

The regime's air and ground assault, which escalated Feb. 18, has seen the once sprawling territory at the doors of the capital shrink to three disconnected opposition-held islands. The evacuation by Ahrar al-Sham from Harasta, if it goes through Thursday, could serve as a blueprint for other rebels in other towns, bringing the regime closer to recapturing the entire territory.

The international medical charity Doctors Without Borders said the advancing regime forces had captured or destroyed 19 of the 20 hospitals the group was supporting just one week ago. It said the medical staff was fleeing the approaching front lines.

The opposition holds just 20 percent of the eastern Ghouta territory they held one month ago, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group. But that territory includes several densely populated residential zones including Douma, the largest town in eastern Ghouta.

The Observatory said some 4,000 people evacuated Douma since Wednesday. The Russian military said more than 5,000 people left eastern Ghouta.

Opposition and the regime exchanged 18 prisoners ahead of the Harasta evacuation, according to pro-regime media.

The 13 men released by the Syrian opposition identified themselves to the media outside Harasta as soldiers and civilians attached to the Syrian army, who were captured by the opposition in the fighting for Harasta. Crying in relief, they thanked God, the Syrian army and Assad for their freedom.

The deal for Harasta will see 1,500 opposition fighters and 6,000 civilians leave to an opposition-held province in northwest Syria, according to the state-affiliated Military Media Center.

Monther Fares, a spokesman for the opposition faction Ahrar al-Sham, confirmed that his group's fighters were preparing to depart. Fares said the opposition agreed to leave because of "civilian pressure" resulting from intensive airstrikes and "warplanes that do not leave the sky," adding that residents of Harasta have spent the last three months inside shelters.

But the arrangement leaves other fighters for the Failaq al-Rahman group still inside. The regime is threatening to move on them if they do not also agree to depart.

State-affiliated al-Ikhbariya TV cast the deal as a victory for the country. Its correspondent Rabieh Dibeh said the regime would restore its authority over Harasta once the "terrorists" left the town. He said defectors from the army would be ordered to rejoin the service.

Critics say it is a formula for displacement that legitimizes the regime's brutal siege tactics that have deprived hundreds of thousands of civilians of food and medicines and subjected them to a half-decade of violence. Numerous, top U.N. officials have likened the tactics to war crimes and crimes against humanity. </s> BEIRUT -- Hundreds of armed rebels and civilians will begin evacuating a besieged town in eastern Ghouta, a rebel spokesman and Syrian government media reported Wednesday, in the first instance of fighters leaving the opposition stronghold east of the capital after a deal reached with the government.

Monther Fares, a spokesman for the powerful Ahrar al-Sham group, said the deal involves the departure starting this morning of opposition fighters from his group to northern Syria. He said the deal negotiated with the government gives security guarantees for those who decide to stay in the town after the government takes over.

The Syria-controlled Military Media Center said 1,500 armed rebels and 6,000 civilians will evacuate Harasta today to the northern province of Idlib as part of a negotiated deal. The Ahrar al-Sham group, headquartered in Harasta, is the smallest of the rebel groups that control eastern Ghouta.

It is the first such deal involving the evacuation of opposition fighters from eastern Ghouta, which has endured a government air and ground assault for a month.

Fares said rebels have agreed to leave because of "civilian pressure" resulting from intensive airstrikes and "warplanes that do not leave the sky," adding that residents of Harasta have spent the past three months inside shelters. He said Russia, a military backer of President Bashar Assad, was the guarantor of the deal.

In other parts of Syria, government forces have also pressed the rebels to enter into local cease-fire agreements under which the militants and their families would relocate to other parts of the country. The Syrian opposition has criticized such agreements, saying they reward the government's siege tactics and legitimize the forced displacement of civilians from their homes.

Syrian government forces have chipped away at the sprawling rebel enclave of eastern Ghouta, seizing more than 70 percent of the territory since Feb. 18. The attack has displaced 45,000 people, according to the United Nations. Before the latest offensive, it was estimated that 400,000 people were trapped in the besieged region.

Eastern Ghouta was one of the hubs of the civil uprising against Assad's government in 2011, which was to be eclipsed by a violent crackdown by the security services and subsequent armed revolt.

Rebels have hit back with rockets and mortar shells on the capital Damascus.

In one of the deadliest attacks in the Syrian capital in the country's 7-year civil war, at least 44 people, most of them women and children, were killed when insurgents fired mortar shells at a busy market in Damascus on Tuesday evening, state media said Wednesday.

In another bloody scene, an airstrike killed 21 people -- 16 of them children -- in the rebel-held province of Idlib in northwestern Syria, an activist said Wednesday. The children, between 7 and 10 years old, were leaving their schools in Kfar Bateekh village when jets began flying overhead.

Raghda Ghanoum, an activist near Kfar Bateekh, said the children and four adults took cover in a cave nearby, where the airstrikes hit. Ghanoum said she documented 21 victim names, including 16 children.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 20 were killed in the airstrikes on the village.

The Observatory put the death toll in the market shelling in Damascus at 43, including 11 pro-government fighters. Video of the aftermath posted online showed scenes of chaos, with people screaming, and bodies and store mannequins strewn across the ground.

Hospital Director Mohammed Haitham al-Husseini told Al-Ikhbariya TV that 35 others were wounded in the mortar attack, with six in intensive care. He said most of the casualties were women and children.

Witnesses told state-run TV that the mortar shells fell during rush hour in the popular market on the eve of Mother's Day, celebrated in the Middle East with the start of spring.

A woman speaking in the hospital said her niece, who was wounded by shrapnel, lost her 4-yea-old son. "We just saw him in the morgue," the woman told Al-Ikhbariya. The TV network did not identify the woman or the child.

The government blamed the attack on rebels in eastern Ghouta.

Government forces, meanwhile, continued to pound remaining opposition-held areas with shelling and airstrikes.

The Syrian Civil Defense first responders, also known as the White Helmets, said that since the latest offensive began a month ago, it documented 1,252 civilians killed in more than 2,990 airstrikes and hundreds of other shellings. </s> AMMAN (Reuters) - A Russian-brokered deal has been reached to evacuate a Syrian rebel group from a town in Eastern Ghouta to opposition-held northwestern Syria in the first such deal in the last remaining rebel bastion near the capital, two opposition sources said on Wednesday.

They said fighters from Ahrar al Sham rebel group in control of the besieged town of Harasta had agreed to lay down their arms in return for safe passage to insurgent-controlled areas and an offer to be pardoned under local reconciliation terms with the authorities for those who want to stay.

The Syrian army and allied forces have recaptured 70 percent of the territory that was under insurgent control in the enclave and after weeks of bombardment residents are fleeing by the thousands.

The relentless Syrian army assault backed by Russian air power that began last month has killed hundreds of people, according to rescuers and a monitor.

The evacuation deals come after years of siege and bombardment that have been a major strategy by the Syrian army to force rebels to surrender and help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad recover all of Aleppo, Homs and other areas.

“The deal has been finalised and it could come into effect soon after a ceasefire is announced as early as Wednesday,” said one official familiar with the talks that have been going on for several days.

It would begin with an evacuation of injured civilians, he added.

The predicament of hundreds of rebels trapped in Harasta, one of the main towns in eastern Ghouta, worsened after the army succeeded earlier this month in splintering Ghouta into three besieged zones, cutting off Harasta from other areas.

Last Sunday, the Syrian army had given the rebels of Harasta area an ultimatum to withdraw, state media said.

The Harasta deal will pile pressure on the two main rebel groups - Failaq al-Rahman in the southern pocket and Jaish al-Islam in the northern enclave - to also reach understandings.

They have however publicly said they reject Russia’s offer to leave the enclave.

The most likely option was however the transfer of Failaq al-Rahman and Jaish al-Islam fighters to opposition-held areas in northern and southern Syria respectively, a rebel official familiar with the situation on the ground said.

The defeat in eastern Ghouta would mark the worst setback for the anti-Assad rebellion since the opposition was driven from eastern Aleppo in late 2016 after a similar campaign of siege, bombing, ground assaults and the promise of safe passage out. </s> Dozens of buses on Wednesday entered two government loyalist towns under siege from rebels in the northwest province of Idlib, as part of a deal to evacuate residents to government-controlled areas, according to state news agency, SANA.

Some 6,000 people will leave, emptying out the mostly Shia towns of al-Foua and Kefraya, a commander in the regional alliance that backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Reuters news agency.

"What are we going to do with our land and property? Oh, my hometown," a 42-year-old who wished to remain anonymous told AFP news agency.

"I pray this will go well."

Rebels from Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham - a group formerly linked to al-Qaeda - and Iran-backed forces agreed to the deal to evacuate people in return for the release of more than 1,500 civilians and rebels in state prisons, sources said on Tuesday.

A deal for the evacuation of residents from the two Shia towns was first reached in April 2017 but had only partially materialised with only a group of people evacuated to government-held areas.

Politics of evacuation

The April evacuation was halted after a blast killed 150 people, including 72 children.

Iran, which backs Assad against the mainly Sunni rebels and has expanded its military role in Syria, has long taken an interest in the fate of the Shia in the two towns.

In the past two years, thousands of people, mostly from rebel-held areas, have been forced to move to territories controlled by the rebels as part of evacuation deals.

The opposition has consistently maintained that such evacuation deals amount to forced demographic change and deliberate displacement of Sunni populations away from the country's urban centres.

They accuse Tehran of attempting to change the demographics in areas close to Damascus with the goal of partitioning the country.

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Another opposition source said the resumption of talks was aimed at deterring a potential military campaign by pro-government forces on the two towns.

Idlib is part of a de-escalation deal - signed by Iran, Russia and Turkey - that calls for the cessations of hostilities between rebel groups and government forces.

The agreement, which initially included Eastern Ghouta in the northern Damascus countryside and Deraa province in the south, has already been broken with government forces, backed by Russian air support, in control of much of the territory.
Evacuations of 7,500 people from rebel-held Harasta, Eastern Ghouta begin. Rebels agree with the Syrian government and Russia for the displaced people to be exiled in Idlib Governorate.