Syrians return to Damascus homes after truce

Hundreds of families displaced by fighting in a neighborhood on the edge of the Syrian capital are returning to their homes as part of a truce between the government and local rebels reached last year.

Their return to the Qadam neighborhood is the latest in a series of ground-level local agreements to end fighting and ease suffering in the war-stricken country.

State news agency SANA says 25 buses transported the returnees from nearby areas after final arrangements had been made for their return to homes fled in 2013-2014 battles that transformed Qadam into a ghost town.

The area was largely destroyed by intense fighting that ended with a cease-fire in August 2014 after months of negotiations.

The government has struck several similar deals with rebels in other neighborhoods and suburbs of Damascus, usually after besieging them for months and pounding them into submission, opposition activists say.

Syrian authorities tout the truces as part of the government’s program of “national reconciliation” to end the conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people since March 2011.

— AP