Zabadani rebels evacuated in besieged villages deal

Buses and ambulances ferried at least 120 Sunni rebels and civilians from Zabadani into nearby Lebanon.

At the same time, about 300 fighters and civilians were transported from two Shia villages in the north to Turkey.

Zabadani had been besieged by pro-regime forces, while Sunni rebels had encircled Kefraya and Fuaa for months.

Also on Monday, at least 14 people were killed and 90 wounded in two suicide bombings in the central city of Homs.

Reports said the blasts had hit the Zahraa neighbourhood of the city. It is predominantly inhabited by members of the Alawite sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.

Under the truce deal, the evacuees from Zabadani will be taken in by Turkey, while those from Fuaa and Kefraya will go on to Lebanon from Turkey, then back to government-held parts of Syria.

The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said the Lebanese Red Cross, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the UN were all involved in the operation.

Monday's evacuations are the latest in a series of similar moves:

• 26 December - An attempt to evacuate rebels, including some from the so-called Islamic State group, from the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk outside Damascus collapses shortly before it was due to start
• 9 December - Rebels leave Homs' Al-Wair district, the last one under their control
• May 2014 - Hundreds of rebels leave Homs after months of government siege, under a deal brokered by Iran and facilitated by the UN

Zabadani is the last major rebel stronghold along the Lebanese border. Fighters from the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham and other allied groups had been holding on, but faced almost certain defeat.

Localised ceasefires were at one point were proposed as one of the few ways out of the bloodshed and stalemate.

However, they have failed to build any real momentum, correspondents say.

In the Zabadani's next-door town of Madaya, people are still living under harsh and suffocating conditions due to a Syrian regime siege imposed 5 months ago.

Local activists said the starvation policy adopted by regime forces and allied Hezbollah militia is leading to tragic consequences, residents told Zaman al Wasl.

In spite of reaching a conditional ceasefire agreement between regime army and rebels on September 22 that allows the humanitarian assistance for the besieged towns of Zabadani, Madaya in western Qalamoun, and Foua' and Kafraya towns in northern Idlib province, the 5-month-old siege on Madaya is still underway, driving people for 'slow death' due to an imminent famine, locals said.

The prices of smuggled food from regime-held areas are 'hitting the sky, not just soaring', one of the resdidents told Zaman al Wasl.

Syria's war started with a pro-democracy movement that grew into an armed uprising and has inflamed regional confrontations. About 300,000 people have died in the conflict, according to United Nations estimates.