LOC16:25
13:25 GMT
AMMAN, Aug 26 (KUNA) -- Evacuation of civilians from the war-hammered town of Daraya, located on Damascus' outskirts, got underway on Friday, according to media reports monitored here.
The operation kicked off in line with an understanding between representatives of the Syrian regime and city representatives, stipulating evacuation of the whole civilian population and deploying regime troops in in the city.
Some 8,300 civilians are being relocated to northern province of Idlib. Gunmen in the city will later get out to new locations, with personal guns, after handing over heavy weapons -- during the four-day operation.
Residents of Daraya, located some 10 km southwest of the Syrian capital, were among the first Syrians who staged the uprising against the regime in March 2011.
An opposition source said the city has become uninhabitable due to the massive destruction, largely inflicted with a series of air strikes with explosives-laden barrels -- the regime improvised dreaded weapon.
The city populace amounted to 80,000 souls before flare-up of the Syrian crisis, and later dropped by 90 percent, with a suffocating siege and severe shortage of necessities. The first humanitarian convoy made it to the city in June. (end)
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