History of Syrian opposition pullouts

Probably the most well-known evacuation deal produced the 2014 withdrawal of fighters from the Old City of Homs after a two-year government siege. Homs was dubbed the “capital of the revolution” after vast protests there early in the uprising. Assad’s forces later blockaded and bombarded insurgents holed up in the historic quarter. Most were finally evacuated in May 2014 under a deal involving a major opposition coalition and regime backer Iran. But the regime continued to besiege Waer, the last remaining opposition-held district in Homs, until a local deal was agreed in December 2015. Over the next several months, hundreds of fighters and their families were bussed out of Waer and taken to rural areas of Homs province.
• Last August, all fighters and civilians from Daraya near Damascus were evacuated under a local agreement that followed a four-year government siege.
The opposition fighters and their families were given safe passage to opposition-held Idlib in the northwest, and regime troops moved back into the town, once a symbol of Syria’s peaceful uprising. In September, a further 300 Syrians living in opposition-held Moadimayet Al-Sham near Damascus were evacuated under the same accord.
Opposition fighters said they were forced to accept the deal, as a blockade and constant bombardment by the army had made the humanitarian situation untenable.
• A UN-backed agreement saw hundreds of people evacuated from the government-controlled towns of Fuaa and Kafraya and opposition-held Zabadani in December 2015. Fuaa and Kafraya, in northwestern Idlib province, are Shiite towns besieged by hard-line Muslims. And Zabadani, along with Madaya, are two opposition-held towns near Damascus that are surrounded by government forces. The elaborate deal involving Lebanon and Turkey as transit countries has also led to humanitarian deliveries to both opposition and regime areas, most recently in September 2016.
• Remaining fighters in east Aleppo appear to have little leverage to force regime concessions, and even though the agreement has been reached, there is no guarantee an evacuation will go ahead. Russia previously announced several “humanitarian corridors” that would allow safe passage for fighters and civilians out of the city, but few took advantage of them. In October, the UN and key medical groups held days of talks to try to secure safe passage out of Aleppo for the sick and wounded, but the effort collapsed when fighting resumed.

Source: Arab News