The Latest: Syrian rebels start leaving Damascus suburb

BEIRUT – The Latest on developments in the Syrian civil war (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

Syrian rebels and civilians have started leaving a ravaged and long-besieged suburb of Damascus as part of a deal struck with the government.

The first bus with rebels and their families emerged from inside Daraya on Friday, surrounded by armed Syrian army troops.

Under the agreement, the rebels will be allowed safe passage to the rebel-held northern province of Idlib, while the civilians will be taken to a shelter south of Daraya.

Daraya's rebels struck the deal late on Thursday, after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege by government forces that left the sprawling suburb southwest of the capital in ruins.

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1 p.m.

The Turkish prime minister vows to continue military operations in Syria until there's no "terror" threat to Turkey from the war-torn neighbor.

Friday's remarks by Binali Yildirim follow Turkey's incursion into Syria. Ankara this week sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels retake the Islamic State-held town of Jarablus and contain the expansion of Syria's Kurds in an area bordering Turkey.

Yildirim says the Syrian Kurdish militia's goal is to carve out a separate state — a "dream" he insists "they will never achieve."

He says the Turkish cross-border operation would continue until "we ensure 100 percent our border security and the life and property of our people."

Yildirim says Turkish operations in Syria will continue until IS militants "and other terror entities are cleared from the region."