Syrian rebels exit second pocket of eastern Ghouta

Syrian rebels are evacuating a second pocket of the besieged eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, leaving several towns and villages to be handed over to government control.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says buses carrying hundreds of fighters belonging to the rebel group Faylaq al-Rahman, their family members and other civilians left eastern Ghouta late Saturday, bound for the rebel-held Idlib province in northern Syria.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency says a second convoy of buses is being prepared to transport rebels and civilians from the towns of Jobar, Ein Terma, Zamalka, and Arbin.

The arrangement is modeled on others in which rebels have surrendered territory after years of siege and bombardment.

— AP