Syrian rebels begin enclave evacuation

ARBIN, Syria - Rebels and civilians started evacuating the penultimate opposition-held pocket of eastern Ghouta on Saturday, as the government moved ever closer to taking full control of the battered enclave.

Seventeen buses transporting 981 rebels and their families evacuated areas through a crossing point on the outskirts of the town of Arbin.

The convoy headed toward rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib, under a recently-reached deal with the Syrian government under Russian mediation.

Ahead of the rebels' evacuation, a total of eight people kidnapped by the rebels in eastern Ghouta were released, as part of the deal that was reached a day earlier.

Talks are still ongoing for the final area around Ghouta's largest town of Douma, but negotiated withdrawals have already been reached to clear two other zones.

Fighters from the Islamist Faylaq al-Rahman rebel group were the latest readying to leave eastern Ghouta, following in the wake of another hard line group that quit the town of Harasta in the past few days for Idlib.

After several hours of delay, fighters and civilians boarded buses in the rebel-held town of Arbin and drove to a checkpoint dividing opposition-held territory from government forces.

"Several buses carrying 500 fighters and their families have reached the Arbin crossing, in preparation for their departure from Ghouta," state news agency SANA reported, adding that evacuations would continue on Sunday.

The evacuations from the towns of Arbin, Zamalka, and Ain Tarma had been scheduled to begin on Saturday morning, but a military source said they were delayed due to "logistical issues", including unblocking and demining the route they would take.

Buses entered around 4 pm, and fighters, their families, and other civilians began boarding them in Arbin as night fell.

State media said on Saturday that more than 105,000 civilians have fled Ghouta in recent weeks.