Evacuations from besieged Syrian towns begin under government deal with rebels

The Syrian government and the opposition have begun a co-ordinated population swap of tens of thousands of people from four besieged towns.

Activists including the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said buses carrying rebels began leaving the rebel-held towns Madaya and Zabadani near Damascus on Friday morning in the first phase of the deal.

The agreement will also see the evacuation of residents from two pro-government Shiite villages in northern Syria.

Dozens of buses entered the areas on Wednesday but by late Thursday people had not boarded them, according to opposition activists in the rebel-held towns.

If the evacuations are completed, they would be the first in number of rounds stretching over two months to evacuate some 30,000 Syrians from besieged areas, in a deal struck by rebels and the government.