A second group of rebels left the southern Syrian city of Daraa on Thursday as part of a Russian-brokered truce aimed at ending the most violent fighting in the region in recent years, an observer said.Daraa, which was considered the birthplace of the 2011 uprising in Syria and was held by opposition forces for many years, was returned to government control in 2018 under a previous Moscow-backed truce that allowed rebels to remain in some areas of Daraa province.
But since the end of July, local armed groups have been firing artillery with government troops, and the regime has imposed a crushing siege on the southern districts of the city of Daraa al-Balad, which is considered the center of former rebels.
The clashes have become the biggest challenge to the 2018 cease-fire, and Moscow-led negotiations have intensified in recent days as the government has stepped up its campaign to root out the remaining rebels from Daraa al-Balad.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Thursday that 53 people, mostly ” militants who rejected the reconciliation agreement reached under the auspices of Russia,” were sent to northern Syria.
The official Syrian news agency SANA reported that “45 terrorists and some of their family members” left Daraa, which was called a step “towards ending terrorist control over the area and the return of all state institutions and services.”
According to the British Observatory, this happened two days after the first group of opposition fighters boarded buses to take them to rebel-controlled territory in the north of the country.
It says that under the agreement, about 100 rebels will leave Daraa al-Balad for northern Syria, and the remaining fighters will hand over their weapons in exchange for lifting the siege, which has left about 40,000 people facing water and electricity outages, as well as food and medical shortages.
The UN said on Tuesday that the latest escalation has forced some 38,000 people to flee over the past month.
On Tuesday, the UN Special Representative for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called for humanitarian assistance and an immediate truce.
“Immediate, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all affected areas and communities, including Daraa al-Balad, is needed,” he told the Security Council