Hundreds deported from Syrian opposition-held enclave in Homs city

Thirty buses filled with rebel fighters and civilians left the opposition neighbourhood of al-Waer in Homs city, central Syria, on Friday.

The latest batch of evacuees will head to Jarabalus on the Turkish border with 25,000 people due to be deported from the cramped besieged district in total.

Over 1,100 people were evacuated from al-Waer during Friday's evacuation from an area that has been beset with severe food shortages due to a regime siege.

The rest of Homs city - often described as the "heart of the Syrian revolution" - in under the control of the government but has been subject to occasional deadly bombings by Islamic State group militants.

Syrian government media said 172 rebel fighters and 1,012 civilians were evacuated in Friday's transfer, which will eventually see the al-Waer district come under the control of the regime.

The transfer of the fighters and their families to the Turkish and rebel-held northern Syrian town, Jarabalus, was monitored by the Red Crescent, regime intelligence agents and Russian military police officers, SANA said.

This was described by state news agency as the eighth stage of the evacuation plan with around 500 deported to rebel-held Idlib province on Sunday.

Evacuation deals, brokered by Russia, have increased over the past few months with civilians from two regime-held villages being evacuated from Idlib province in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, besieged opposition areas are also being emptied of their population in deals described as "ethnic cleansing" by opponents.