Relief for residents as evacuation of Damascus suburb begins

Besieged residents and rebels began leaving the Damascus suburb of Daraya as an evacuation to end one of the longest stand-offs in Syria’s five-year war began.

Earlier this year conditions there were so bad that, amid reports of the army burning local wheat fields, some people were reduced to eating grass and sending their children out to beg, the UN’s World Food Programme said.

Insurgents and government forces agreed a deal on Thursday to evacuate the town, which the Syrian army has surrounded since 2012. The UN said only one shipment of aid has reached the area since then.