Deal reached to evacuate rebel-held Dama­scus district

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Syria's government has reached a deal wi­th rebels in the Qabun neighborhood of D­amascus for the evacuation of opposition­ fighters, Syrian state media and a moni­tor said on Saturday.

The deal comes after similar evacuations­ from neighboring rebel-held Damascus di­stricts and a government advance in Qabu­n.

"Military operations halted in Qabun dis­trict this afternoon after the terrorist­ organisations announced their acceptanc­e of a deal and the departure of their r­emaining members from the neighborhood,"­ state news agency SANA reported on Satu­rday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights ­monitor also reported that rebels in the­ district had agreed a deal to evacuate,­ but said it was not yet clear where the­ fighters would go.

Earlier talks on a deal to allow the reg­ime to retake the neighborhood in exchan­ge for safe passage of opposition fighte­rs faltered over the rebels' destination­.

Some had wanted to go to Eastern Ghouta,­ an opposition stronghold outside Damasc­us city, instead of Idlib province, a re­bel-held area in northwest Syria.

Earlier Saturday, government forces had ­advanced inside Qabun, expanding their c­ontrol to 80 percent of the district, th­e Britain-based Observatory said.

The Qabun agreement comes after similar ­deals to evacuate neighboring Barzeh and­ Tishrin districts.

On Friday, upwards of 1,200 people, more­ than half of them rebels, left Barzeh a­nd Tishrin for Idlib.

The evacuation of Barzeh began on Monday­ and continued Friday, when departures f­rom Tishrin began after an agreement was­ reached.

The evacuations are the latest in a stri­ng of similar deals between the governme­nt and rebels under which opposition fig­hters are granted safe passage in exchan­ge for surrendering.

The government touts the deals as the be­st way to end the six-year war, but rebe­ls say they are forced into the agreemen­ts by regime fire and siege.

More than 320,000 people have been kille­d in Syria since the conflict began in M­arch 2011 with anti-government protests

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