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Convoy crosses into Syria for border village evacuation Evacuation of wounded fighters, civilians begin in Syria
(about 1 hour later)
MASNAA, Lebanon — A Lebanese convoy has crossed into Syria to evacuate dozens of opposition fighters and civilians from a border village. MASNAA, Lebanon — Syrian opposition fighters, some on wheel chairs, stretchers or using crutches, gathered Monday in a square in the Syrian mountain resort of Zabadani and boarded buses and ambulances that began taking them to Lebanon from where they will be flown to Turkey.
The evacuation is part of a U.N.-backed truce deal reached in September for two key Syrian battleground areas that will see the transfer of thousands of Shiite and Sunni civilians and fighters from one area to another.The evacuation is part of a U.N.-backed truce deal reached in September for two key Syrian battleground areas that will see the transfer of thousands of Shiite and Sunni civilians and fighters from one area to another.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 129 civilians and fighters will be brought from the predominantly Sunni village of Zabadani near Lebanon to Beirut where they will be flown to Turkey. In addition to Zabadani, evacuations began in two Shiite villages in northern Syria where wounded fighters and some civilians will be taken by land to Turkey before boarding a plane that will bring them to Lebanon on their way to Syria.
The group says 338 civilians will leave the Syrian Shiite villages of Foua and Kfarya toward Turkey and will later be flown to Lebanon. The agreement is another example of limited deals to end fighting in specific areas in Syria. Earlier this month, scores of fighters and their families began leaving a rebel-held neighborhood in the central city of Homs ending years of combat.
A convoy of more than 30 Lebanese Red Cross ambulances crossed into Syria Monday for the evacuation. As the evacuation was ongoing, twin bombings struck a government-held neighborhood in Homs, killing six people and wounding 27, Homs Governor Talal Barrazi said. A car bomb exploded and minutes later a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt detonated his device among people gathered to inspect the damage, Barrazi said.
State TV aired footage showing widespread damage in the Zahraa neighborhood, while Barrazi said the attacks came in response to the reconciliation deal in the city.
Zabadani has been relatively quiet since September when the deal was reached. The mountain resort had been subjected to intense attacks by government forces and members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group who were trying to capture the strategic area that is few miles from the Lebanon border and the highway that links Beirut with the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Earlier Monday, a convoy of some 30 Lebanese Red Cross ambulances crossed into Syria from Lebanon to evacuate dozens of opposition fighters and civilians from Zabadani.
Syrian state TV said 123 wounded fighters and their families will leave the predominantly Sunni Zabadani while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 129 civilians and fighters will be brought to Beirut where they will be flown to Turkey.
The Observatory said 338 civilians will leave the Syrian Shiite villages of Foua and Kfarya toward Turkey and will later be flown to Lebanon. The Observatory said the evacuation also began in Foua and Kfarya.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV was reporting live from Zabadani, showing dozens of bearded men— many of them wounded — being searched and having their names checked before boarding buses.
Opposition fighters could be seen on balconies and roofs of surrounding buildings. A wounded fighter was carried on a stretcher into a Syrian Arab Red Crescent ambulance that was expected to ferry him to the border where he will be given to the Lebanese Red Cross.
In Beirut, security was tighter than usual at the city’s Rafik Hariri International Airport where the evacuees are scheduled to be flown to Turkey later Monday.
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Mroue reported from Beirut.
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Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria contributed to this report.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.