Darayya siege: Residents and fighters ready to evacuate Syrian town

A deal has been reached to allow rebel fighters and civilians to leave the Syrian town of Darayya, which has been under government siege since 2012.

The evacuation of the town, near the capital Damascus, is expected to begin on Friday. Syrian Red Crescent vehicles are poised to enter the town.

Residents have faced near-constant bombardment and shortages of food, water and power.

Civilians received their first supplies in four years only in June.

It comes as US Secretary of State John Kerry hold talks on Syria with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.

They are meeting in a bid to broker a temporary ceasefire in the city of Aleppo, where fighting between government and rebel forces has escalated in recent weeks, leaving hundreds dead.

Under the terms of the Darayya deal, 700 armed men will leave for the rebel-controlled city of Idlib while 4,000 civilians will move to government shelters, Syrian state media reported.

At the scene: Assaf Abboud, Arabic Service, outside Darayya

We are at Darayya main entrance near al-Basil roundabout. This area is just 7km (5 miles) from the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Buses and ambulances are on standby to start the evacuation. We are now waiting for the green light to begin the implementation of the operation as agreed by the two sides.

Darayya has a strategic position - given its proximity to Daraa Road, it is not far from the capital and from the Mazzeh military airport, too. The armed opposition had used the town as a connection hub between western and eastern Ghouta, Damascus.
Map showing besieged towns

Darayya saw some of the first protests against the Syrian government, an uprising that transformed into a full-blown civil conflict.

The withdrawal of the rebels only a few miles from Damascus is a boost for President Bashar al-Assad, analysts say.
A man holds a child as supplies arrive in Daraya

"We are being forced to leave, but our condition has deteriorated to the point of being unbearable," Hussam Ayash, an activist in the town, told the Associated Press news agency.

"We withstood for four years but we couldn't any longer."

Meanwhile a monitoring group said 11 children had been killed in a barrel bomb attack by government forces in a rebel-held neighbourhood of Aleppo.

They were among 15 people killed in the incident, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

BBC News