Around 620 rebels and their families began evacuating a besieged town southwest of the Syrian capital on Wednesday under a deal with the government, a local official told AFP.

"The buses of rebels have begun moving," said Hassan Ghandour, a member of the local committee overseeing the deal in Moadamiyet al-Sham.

He said the buses held rebels as well as their family members and would head to Idlib province, northwest of Damascus.