Evacuation of Three Syrian Towns is Underway Thanks to Rare Ceasefire Deal

Dozens of Syrian fighters and hundreds of families were being evacuated to Turkey and Lebanon on Monday under a United Nations-sponsored deal reached by the warring sides with the help of Turkey and Iran.

Ambulances and buses entered the the besieged rebel-held Syrian town of Zabadani on the Lebanese border to evacuate scores of fighters, among them injured.

The deal will allow rebel fighters who have been holed up for months in Zabadani to have safe passage to Beirut airport to then head for their final destinations of Turkey under International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) auspices, sources told Reuters. However the Syria Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the mostly Sunni Muslim fighters would later return to rebel-held areas in Syria, reported the Daily Telegraph.

Meanwhile, around 300 families in Kefraya and Fuaa, two besieged Shi'ite towns in the mainly rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, will be heading in a land convoy to the Turkish border from where they will then fly to Beirut. The SOHR said they would later return to regime-held parts of Syria.

The Zabadani area had been the focus of an offensive by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Syrian army against insurgent groups. The area is of importance to President Bashar al-Assad because of its proximity to the Syrian capital Damascus and the Lebanese border.

Related: The Homs Ceasefire Is a Symbolic Blow to Syria's Rebels

Sunni insurgent groups have in turn launched attacks on Kefraya and Fuaa that intensified after most of Idlib province fell to rebels after a series of advances against the army this year.

Some diplomats say local ceasefires between Syrians may be the most effective way of gradually bringing peace to a country where more than 250,000 people have been killed. However very few have taken place so far.

Iran, which backs the regime, and Turkey, which backs the rebels, helped bring about the local ceasefires in Zabadani and in the two villages in Idlib in September in the first phase of the deal.

Hundreds of rebels and civilians were bussed out of Homs earlier this month under a different ceasefire agreement, also brokered by the UN, a deal that was two years in the making.

Syria peace talks involving world powers in Vienna in October called for a nationwide ceasefire and a renewal of UN-brokered talks between the rival Syrian sides. Saudi Arabia is convening an opposition conference this week as part of that process.

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