Evacuation of two pro-Assad Syrian villages under way
An evacuation began overnight of thousands of people from two loyalist Syrian villages that are besieged by rebels in the northwest, a war monitor said, with the government expected to release hundreds of detainees in return.
The Shi'ite villages of al-Foua and Kefraya are expected to be emptied of all their residents and fighters. More than 100 buses arrived to transport residents and fighters from the villages to nearby government-held territory in Aleppo province.
The evacuation began with ambulances ferrying out the sick, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported.
Syrian state-run al-Ikhbariya TV said 10 ambulances carrying a number of people in critical condition had arrived at a government checkpoint in al-Eis. Al-Manar TV, run by the pro-Damascus Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, said this completed the first phase of the agreement, and that the upcoming departure of 121 buses in a convoy would complete a second phase.
