Spotlight: Soldiers feel euphoria of victory after rebels' evacuation of main stronghold near Damascus

Holding their rifles high and shouting in excitement, Syrian soldiers felt the exhilaration of victory as the rebels were bused out of a key battleground near the capital Damascus on Friday.

"By the hands of the Syrian Arab Army, and thanks to the wisdom of the Syrian leadership and the battles fought by the Syrian soldiers over the past five years, Daraya has been liberated today," a senior military officer announced the "victory" in the sprawling town of Daraya west of Damascus with a poetic tone, as if the news was long awaited, and the victory news needs to be historic.

Throughout the first years of the five-year-old Syrian war, the Syrian army had lost large swathes of territories to an array of rebel groups, whose power ranged from the most powerful groups of al-Qaida and the Islamic State (IS) to less powerful ones, which are plenty.

The army forces have become stretched thin in the first three years, but when the Russians and Hezbollah stepped in to help in 2014 and 2015, the army started gaining ground and making progress against the foreign-backed rebels.

In the case of the town of Daraya near Damascus, the Syrian army withdrew from the town in 2012, as the rebels there have taken control of that sprawling key area on the western rim of Damascus.

Later on, the Syrian forces placed the town under a tight siege, with battles and skirmishes taking place each once in a while.

Recently, Daraya returned under the spotlight when the people in Damascus started hearing the sounds of the renewed clashes and shelling echoing from that direction.

Afterwards, news of a deal between the worn-out rebels and the Syrian army was said to have been concluded between both parts.

State news agency SANA said both sides concluded a deal on Thursday, under which the Syrian army and government will re-assume control of Daraya, in exchange of the rebels' extraction.

SANA said nearly 5,000 people were going to leave Daraya on batches, in a duration of four days.

It added that the rebels who want to leave without accepting to reconcile with the government will be granted access along with their families to the northwestern city of Idlib, a major stronghold for the rebels' Jaish al-Fateh, or the Army of Conquest.

Other rebels who want to reconcile will hand over their weapons and settle their criminal records with the government.

Civilians who want to stay under the government control, will be taken to the town of Hirjalleh, in the southern countryside of Damascus.

On Friday, the first stage of evacuation has been completed, with 585 civilians and armed rebels leaving Daraya.

Ten buses left Daraya on Friday, five of which transported 270 people, which are rebels and their families.

Another five buses carried 315 civilians, who were taken to a displacement shelter in Hirjalleh.

As the government-provided buses were leaving the destroyed streets of Daraya toward the al-Bassel Roundabout at the entrance of the town, Syrian soldiers rushed around the buses and shouted "God, Syria, and only Bashar."

Shouting slogans in support of President Bashar al-Assad in front of the buses was the soldiers' message to the armed rebels that we have won the battle in Daraya.

In a government-organized trip for journalists to Daraya, an army officer gathered the journalists around him, asking them to be wise and act with prudence, giving orders to his soldiers not to give any statement or interview before the beginning of the evacuation.

"We have been waiting for Daraya for five years, we don't want to mess up this opportunity," he addressed the reporters and the soldiers.

Military vehicles were waiting to escort the buses filled with residents and rebels out of the city, whose landscape is similar to those in the movies depicting the Armageddon, or the doom's day.

Ambulances as well as convoys from the Syrian Red Crescent were waiting at a government-held area of the town to evacuate.

A Syrian solider in the town told Xinhua that the rebels have finally "succumbed" and accepted to negotiate their withdrawal from the town toward Idlib.

He added that the evacuation pulls the curtain down on "years of the suffering of civilians who have lived under the rebels' rule in Daraya."

Daraya, located in the western Ghouta area of Damascus, is close to the major military airbase of Mazzeh, which had been subject to repetitive failed attacks by the rebels from Daraya.

The town is also home to a Muslim Shiite shrine, which has also been attacked and bombed out several times by the Sunni-led rebels.

Daraya is the largest town in the Western Ghouta countryside, and the second most important stronghold for the rebels in the countryside of Damascus, after Douma, the major rebel bastion east of the capital Damascus.

A military officer told Xinhua that "with the liberation of Daraya, an important part of the rebels' spine has been broken."

Three main rebel groups had been in control of the town ahead of the evacuation deal, namely the Levant Martyr Brigade, the Brigade of the Mother of Believers and the Levant's Soldiers.

The source, who asked not to be named in line with regulations, said the safety zone around Damascus has been expanded with the return of Daraya under the government control. Endit