BEIRUT // Ambulances and buses entered the rebel-held Syrian town of Zadabadi on Monday to ferry scores of the insurgents to Turkey under a deal brokered by the United Nations.
Under the deal, rebel fighters holed up for months in the town near the Lebanese border have been promised safe passage to Beirut airport, then on to Turkey.
At the same time, around 300 families in two besieged Shiite towns in the mainly rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib were due to head to the Turkish border, and then fly on to Beirut.
Relief workers and rebel fighters helped carry several young men in wheelchairs onto ambulances in a square in Zadabadi, one witness said.
Much of the town was devastated in a major offensive launched in July against the insurgents by the Syrian army and its allies from Hizbollah.
The UN and foreign governments have tried to broker local ceasefires and safe-passage agreements as steps towards the wider goal of ending Syria’s near five-year civil war.
Iran and Turkey helped organise ceasefires in Zabadani and the two villages in Idlib in September in the first phase of the deal overseen by International Committee of the Red Cross.
The rebel fighters going to Turkey would then be able to go back to rebel-held areas in Syria through the northern Turkish border or stay for treatment, according to rebels close to the negotiations.
* Reuters
