Syrian rebel fighters and their families began leaving a key Eastern Ghouta town on Thursday, after agreeing with the government to give up their fight for the opposition stronghold.

Around 1,600 fighters from the Ahrar al-Sham Islamist group and some 6,000 of their relatives were expected to have been evacuated by the end of the day, in the first such deal between the two sides of the conflict.

Buses transported the men, women and children out of the enclave through government territory and on to opposition-held Idlib province in the northwest of the country.

Idilb, close to the Turkish border, is the rebels’ largest remaining redoubt and where thousands of rebels have been sent by the regime under so-called reconciliation deals.