Syria evacuees on the move again after two-day halt

Buses transporting hundreds of frightened Syrian evacuees was on the move again Friday after a two day delay at a transit point where a bomber has earlier killed scores of civilians, a monitor has said.

Some 60 buses carrying both civilians and loyalist fighters from the besieged regime-held towns of Fuaa and Kafraya moved from the marshalling zone in rebel-held Rashidin, outside Aleppo, on Friday morning, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A further 11 buses evacuating fighters and civilians from Zabadani and two other rebel-held areas around Damascus also resumed their evacuations, the UK-based monitor said.

A total of 3,000 evacuees left their homes in Fuaa and Kafraya at dawn on Wednesday as part of a deal under which residents and fighters are also being evacuated from the rebel-held areas surrounded by government forces.

The evacuations, which began last week, were delayed after a suicide car bombing on Saturday killed 126 people - including 68 children - at the transit point in Rashidin.

The process resumed on Wednesday, however, the evacuees were forced to stay on their buses for two nights after a last-minute demand from rebel groups that prisoners held by President Bashar al-Assad's regime be released.