Hundreds of rebels and their families began boarding buses to leave the besieged Damascus suburb of Barzeh on May 8 under a deal agreed with the government, according to state media and a monitoring group.
State TV reported that the evacuation of fighters from Barzeh for the rebel-held Idlib Province in Syria's northwest had begun to be implemented, but it didn’t give further details.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that around 1,500 are expected to leave Barzeh on May 8 and more stages will follow in coming weeks.
Barzeh, located in northeast Damascus, has been the site of intense fighting between rebels and the Syrian Army in recent months.
Tens of thousands of people living in besieged areas around Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo have surrendered after prolonged sieges in exchange for safe relocation to opposition-held areas elsewhere in the country.