Buses were gathering Friday (July 20th) in a southwestern sliver of Syria to transfer opposition fighters and civilians to opposition-held territory further north, AFP reported.

The transfers come under a surrender deal agreed this week between Russia and Syrian opposition representatives in Quneitra province that will see the zone fall back under regime control.

Opposition fighters will hand over territory they control in Quneitra and the neighbouring buffer zone with the Golan Heights, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an opposition source said.

The deal included safe passage to northern Syria for hardliners who refuse to live under regime control, and buses began entering the area Friday to carry out the transfers, the Observatory said.

The buses reached regime-controlled territory in Quneitra on Thursday, "and today they began crossing into opposition areas for the evacuation", said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

He said it remained unclear how many fighters and civilians would ultimately be evacuated, but that the buses would likely be picking up people from multiple locations.