1st LD: Evacuating rebels, civilians from key town near Damascus completed

The second stage of evacuating the rebels from the town of Daraya west of the capital Damascus was completed on Saturday, marking the full return of that town under the Syrian military control, according to state news agency SANA.

Saturday marked the completion of a deal reached on Thursday between the Syrian army and the rebels in Daraya, under which the first batch of civilians and rebels left the town on Friday, while the process was completed on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the state-run al-Ekhbaria TV said Daraya has become empty of the rebels, and fully under the control of the Syrian army for the first time since 2012.

The deal concluded for Daraya included the departure of the rebels who don't want to reconcile with the government along with their families to rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

SANA initially said 4,000 civilians were to leave Daraya, as well as 700 rebels.

Still, the agency didn't give the final number of evacuees, but all pro-government news outlets stated that the city has become empty.

Civilians, who want to live under the government control, were transported by buses to the town of Hirjalleh in the southern countryside of Damascus.

The ambitious deal, for the government part at least, marked the return of one of the most important rebel bastion to the "lap of the homeland," as the government likes to call it.

After the success of the deal in Daraya, talks are not being reported to have been taking place to implement a similar scenario in the adjacent town of Muadamiey, another rebel stronghold west of Damascus.

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