DAMASCUS, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The former U.S.-backed Liwa Shuhada al-Qaryatayn rebels will evacuate from southern Syria to positions of the Turkey-backed rebels in northern Syria under a deal with the Russians, a pro-government newspaper reported on Thursday.
Citing opposition activists, the al-Watan newspaper said around 5,000 rebels and their families will evacuate in the coming days their positions near the U.S.-run base in the al-Tanf area toward areas controlled by Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) in Aleppo province.
The evacuation comes following negotiations between the group and the Russian and Syrian government side.
The group was formerly backed by the U.S., but the support was lifted off as its commanders refused to focus solely on fighting the Islamic State (IS) without fighting the forces of President Bashar al-Assad.
Citing Russian reports, the al-Watan newspaper said negotiations have been undergoing between the Russian and U.S. side over the past few days for the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from al-Tanf, as a first step for the full pull out of the U.S. forces from Syria.
The U.S. would also dismantle the al-Rukban camp near the Jordanian border and would allow the 80,000 civilians in the camp to return to their hometowns across the country.
Al-Tanf, a military base of the U.S.-led international coalition with a declared purpose of countering IS militants, locates 24 km to the west from the al-Tanf border crossing between Syria and Iraq in the eastern countryside of Homs Governorate.
There are approximately 1,500 - 2,000 U.S. Special Operations Forces in Syria, spreading across 12 different facilities, mostly being used as training bases for Kurdish rebels.
The deal that is being talked about comes as the Russian and Turkish sides have reached another deal for the fate of Idlib.
On Monday, the leaders of Turkey and Russia agreed to establish a demilitarized zone in Idlib to avert that province a wide-scale military operation by the Syrian army and its allies.
The deal, which will go into effect on Oct.15, will see the withdrawal of hardline rebels from the demilitarized zone as well as heavy rebels' weapons from that buffer zone between the army and the rebels under the supervision of Russia and Turkey.
Activists, however, said that the al-Qaida-linked militants and likeminded groups rejected to withdraw from the demilitarized zone, which would be the mission of the Turkish side to persuade them to do so, or else the deal would collapse and a war would hang over Idlib.
