Syrian opposition fighters have agreed to surrender a sensitive area bordering the Golan Heights, AFP reported Thursday (July 19th), the latest in a series of deals with the regime.

The agreement follows another deal that saw thousands of residents evacuated Thursday morning from the two pro-regime towns of Fuaa and Kafraya in northern Syria.

With a mix of military force and negotiated surrenders, Syrian forces this month captured more than 90% of Daraa, the southern province where protests against president Bashar al-Assad first erupted in 2011.

They then began intensely bombing the opposition in Quneitra, a crescent-shaped province wedged between Daraa and the buffer zone with the Golan to the west.

Under pressure, opposition fighters have agreed to hand over Quneitra and the buffer to government forces, an opposition negotiator and a monitoring group said Thursday.

"The deal provides for a ceasefire, the handover of heavy and medium weapons, and the return of government institutions to the area," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syrian forces would take over opposition territory in the buffer zone and some opposition fighters would be bussed to opposition territory in northern Syria, he said.

The deal, according to the Observatory, does not include extremist alliance Tahrir al-Sham that holds territory straddling the provinces of Quneitra and Daraa.