BEIRUT – An agreement between the Syrian government and rebels to evacuate an opposition-held district of Damascus was completed on Monday as more insurgents left the area, Qaboun, Syrian state TV and a monitoring group said.

State TV quoted the Damascus provincial governor as saying that Qaboun “is empty of militants”. It said army engineering teams had entered the district, on the city’s northeastern edge, to begin clearing it of mines and unexploded ordnance.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 1,300 rebel fighters and their families had left on Monday, headed for areas further east of Damascus or to the northwestern province of Idlib.

A still image taken from a video uploaded by the Syrian Army on May 13, 2017 shows smoke rising from Qaboun, on the edge of the capital Damascus, Syria. (Photo: Syrian Army Handout via Reuters TV)

On Sunday, more than 2,000 rebels and their family members left Qaboun, state media said.

State TV said several hundred fighters had decided to stay in the district under the agreement as government forces took control.

The Damascus government has concluded a number of similar evacuation deals in recent months with the Syrian opposition, supported in some cases by Syria ally Iran and rebel backer Qatar.

The opposition says the agreements amount to forced displacement of President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents from areas around the capital, and are often reached after months or years of siege by government forces and their allies.

Reuters