Thousands flee Damascus suburb
The Red Crescent tells Channel 4 News more than 3,500 people, mainly women and children, have been allowed to leave the Damascus suburbd of Moadhamiya and Daraya.
The humanitarian organisation is overseeing the massive evacuation after Syrian government forces called a halt to their shelling of the rebel-held area that includes the neighbouring town of Daraya.
Earlier this week Channel 4 News reported claims from rebels that children were starving to death thanks to the government blockade of Moadhamiya – the same area targeted in August’s chemical attack.
The Red Crescent says it hopes to get all 12,000 civilians left in Moadhamiya and Daraya out of the danger zone over the next few days.
Thousands of people from the two towns have been queueing to get out.
The operation has been going on for two days, after months of pressing for access to the area by the Red Cross and the Syrian Red Crescent in order to bring in vital aid supplies.
Moadhamiya was one of the first towns near Damascus to rise up against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, and the town has been under constant shelling since the rebellion began.
Activists and aid agencies say the area has been completely cut off, with no access to food and vital medicines to treat wounded civilians.
Syrian State Television has been broadcasting images of the refugees leaving today in what some activists have described as a propaganda exercise.