DAMASCUS, July 20 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of the rebels and their families left Syria's southern province of Quneitra on Friday as part of a deal for the full withdrawal of rebels from that area near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, according to the state news agency SANA.
A total of 55 buses transporting hundreds of rebels and their families left Quneitra through the Jaba crossing toward rebel-held areas in northern Syria.
The Friday evacuees were the first to leave Quneitra under the deal that was reached a day earlier between the Syrian government side and the rebels under the mediation and sponsorship of Russia.
SANA said the second batch will leave Quneitra on Saturday.
A day earlier, a deal was reached for the entry of the Syrian army to all rebel-held areas in Quneitra near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
According to the deal, the Syrian army will enter all of the areas that had been controlled by the government before 2011, the year of the Syrian war.
It said the rebels will surrender their weapons, adding that those who reject to reconcile with the government will evacuate to rebel-held areas in northern Syria.
Others who want to stay will embark on a reconciliation process with the government.
The deal will see the entire Quneitra province near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights back under the government control.
This new deal comes just days after U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in Helsinki and discussed the situation in Syria, mainly in the southern region near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Putin highlighted the need to defeat terrorists in southwestern Syria while keeping the forces of Syria and Israel separated.
He referred specifically to the treaty of 1974 that ended the Yom Kippur war and designated the lines of separation between Israel and Syria.
The current deal also comes after the Syrian army has been on a month-long offensive in southern Syria, mainly in the southern province of Daraa, Quneitra, and Sweida.
The army has already captured large swathes of Daraa, with activists saying 90 percent of the province fall back to the government control.
The army was also advancing in the countryside of Quneitra in a bid to lay a siege on areas controlled by the Islamic State (IS) in Daraa near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
