A UN operation to evacuate around 450 Syrian fighters and their families from two besieged Syrian areas was completed yesterday with the arrival of planes carrying them to Beirut and Hatay airport in Turkey.
UN and airport sources said, two planes with 330 Syrian fighters and civilians evacuated from two pro-government Shi’ite towns in northwestern Syria arrived in Beirut airport. A plane carrying 126 rebel fighters trapped in Zabadani near the Lebanese border also landed at almost the same time in Turkey.
The evacuations took place under a UN-sponsored agreement brokered by regional powers, part of efforts by the United Nations to set up local deals on ceasefires and safe passage.
In return for allowing the rebels to leave, the deal allows the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad to restore control over areas that had been in rebel hands for the past four years.
United Nations hopes that the evacuation operation can be a stepping stone toward a wider peace accord in the country’s civil war.