Last 1,000 rebels leave Damascus district under evacuation deal

Record ID: 876244

  • Title: Last 1,000 rebels leave Damascus district under evacuation deal
  • Date: 16th May 2017
  • Summary: QABOUN, DAMASCUS, SYRIA (MAY 15, 2017) (REUTERS) RUBBLE AND DESTROYED BUILDINGS DAMAGED BUILDINGS / SYRIAN ARMY TROOPS WALKING VARIOUS OF CIVILIANS CARRYING BELONGINGS, LEAVING QABOUN ON FOOT TUNNEL USED BY REBELS TO TRANSFER WEAPONS TO QABOUN VARIOUS OF SYRIAN ARMY TROOPS WALKING THROUGH TUNNELS
  • Embargoed: 30th May 2017 11:58
  • Keywords: evacuation deal underground tunnels war Syria Damascus Syrian Army Qaboun
  • Location: DAMASCUS, SYRIA
  • City: DAMASCUS, SYRIA
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA0036H38ZEV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: VIDEO QUALITY AS INCOMING
    More than 1,000 insurgents and their families left an opposition-held district of Damascus on Monday (May 15), completing an agreement between the Syrian government and rebels, Syrian state media outlets and a war monitoring group said.
    Well over 3,000 people have left Qaboun in two days of evacuations, paving the way for the government to regain control of the area, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. They headed for areas still under opposition control east of the Syrian capital, or for the northwestern province of Idlib, also held by insurgents, it said.
    Syria's military released a statement saying it had "returned peace and security to the Qaboun area" after killing many insurgents and blowing up tunnels they had used for supplies.
    Damascus has done a number of similar deals in recent months with the Syrian opposition, supported in some cases by Syria's ally Iran and Qatar, which backs the rebels. The government sees the deals as an alternative to failing peace talks, but the opposition says they amount to forced displacement of President Bashar al-Assad's opponents from areas around the capital.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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