The first group of Syrian rebels and their families evacuated from southern Syria

The first group of Syrian rebels and their families evacuated from southern Syria after a deal was struck with the government has arrived in the country’s northwest.

A total of 55 buses carrying rebel fighters and members of their families departed the strategic area that adjoins the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Friday, Syria’s official SANA news agency said.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said a first convoy of some 2,800 people had arrived on Saturday at the Morek transit point, in Hama province, which separates opposition from government-held areas.

An estimated 13,000 Syrian refugees returned from neighbouring countries in the first half of 2018 with some 750,000 internally displaced also going back to their homes, UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said at a news conference in Geneva.