Russian military police will accompany the buses with refugees leaving the Rukban tent camp in the US-controlled zone in Syria, on their way to the areas administered by Damascus. The first buses departed for the camp on Friday.

Security for the refugees leaving the camp, mainly women and children, is being provided jointly by the Syrian armed forces and the Russian military, Sergey Solomatin, head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties in Syria, said on Friday.

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The buses will enter the camp, located within the 55km zone around the US base at Al-Tanf, at a mobile checkpoint at Jleb and bring out the refugees through one of the two humanitarian corridors opened last month by Moscow and Damascus. The first buses, accompanied by Russian military police vehicles, departed to Jleb on Friday.

Upon their evacuation, the refugees will be ferried to the towns of Al Khalidiyah, Al-Amarah, Palmyra, Mhin, Al Karyatein and to the areas outside Damascus, Homs and Alepppo, for permanent resettlement, Solomatin said.

He noted, however, that while the operation had been agreed by the Syrian and Russian forces, the US military has yet to respond to the request.

The Rukban camp in the southeastern part of the country houses some 40,000 refugees displaced by the hostilities in the war-ravaged country. The refugees are said to be living in squalid conditions, lacking medical assistance and basic supplies. Last week, the Center reported that some 220,000 Syrian refugees had returned home with the support of the Russian forces.

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