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Syrian Rebels to Leave Key Town in Eastern Ghouta

by Associated Press

   BEIRUT --

   Syrian rebels and their families are expected to leave a besieged town
   in the eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, in an evacuation deal that
   will see the town handed over to the government following years of
   bombardment.

   Monther Fares, a spokesman for the rebel faction Ahrar al-Sham, says
   his group's fighters are preparing to leave. He says fighters are
   waiting for buses to arrive to take them and their families to other
   rebel-held areas in north Syria.

   The government-controlled Military Media Center says 1,500 rebels and
   6,000 civilians will leave Harasta on Thursday.

   The deal is modeled after others that have had rebels surrender swaths
   of territory around the capital and other major cities to the
   government. The U.N. and human rights groups have condemned such
   arrangements as "forced displacement."