Syrian Rebels Fly from Beirut to Turkey as Part of U.N.-backed Deal with Hizbullah, Damascus
More than 120 rebels and wounded from the flashpoint Syrian border town of Zabadani traveled Monday from Beirut's airport to Turkey as part of a U.N.-backed truce.
A convoy carrying them had earlier in the day crossed from Syria into Lebanon through the Masnaa border crossing.
The convoy consisted of seven buses and 22 ambulances and was accompanied by Lebanese security forces.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, the evacuees will later cross from Turkey into rebel-held territory in Syria.
Simultaneously, two planes took off from Turkey's Hatay airport to Beirut, carrying 335 people evacuated from the mainly Shiite Syrian villages of Fuaa and Kafraya.
The residents had crossed into Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa border point and are to travel overland to Damascus after arriving in Beirut.
According to a source close to the negotiations, national flag carrier Turkish Airlines flew both sets of evacuees.
- 'Humanitarian agreement' -
"We appreciate the cooperation of all sides, of the Syrian, Turkish, and Lebanese governments, and all the sides that have signed on to this humanitarian agreement," said U.N. humanitarian coordinator Yaacoub El Hillo in comments to Al-Mayadeen TV from the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon.
The next part of the deal, according to the Britain-based Observatory, would see humanitarian aid delivered into the towns.
The Observatory's Abdel Rahman said Assad's regime was keen to reach such agreements as part of its "efforts to secure the capital by seizing control of rebel-held areas or through ceasefire deals."
Hizbullah's al-Manar TV broadcast live footage of the Zabadani convoy entering Lebanon.
Dozens of people gathered at the Masnaa crossing rushed the buses as ambulance sirens wailed.
The station had provided coverage earlier of bearded fighters wearing military-style fatigues boarding the buses amid bombed-out ruins in Zabadani.
Syria's regime has agreed to several ceasefires with rebel groups in the past but Monday's evacuation plan was one of the most elaborate in the nearly five-year war.
It was the first to involve crossing through Turkey and Lebanon.
Fuaa and Kafraya have been besieged for months by the rebels.
Sources close to the Islamic State and al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front have assured that they are not involved in the deal, explaining that the Zabadani fighters are linked to Jaish al-Fatah and other armed factions.
Pro-government forces and Hizbullah launched an offensive to try to recapture Zabadani in July, prompting a rebel alliance -- including members of al-Nusra Front -- to besiege the Idlib villages of Fuaa and Kafraya.
Hizbullah has sent thousands of fighters across the border to support Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces against the Islamist-led militants fighting to topple him. The group's intervention has helped the Syrian army recapture most towns in the Qalamoun region near the border with Lebanon.
Hundreds of Hizbullah fighters have been reportedly killed in the conflict to date.
In total, more than 240,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
The fighting has since evolved into a complex civil war involving rebels, the regime, al-Qaida and Islamic State jihadists, Lebanon's Hizbullah and Kurdish fighters.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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