Evacuation of 450 from besieged Syrian areas completed: sources

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A U.N. operation to evacuate around 450 Syrian fighters and their families from two besieged Syrian areas was completed on Monday with the arrival of planes carrying them to Beirut and Hatay airport in Turkey, U.N. and airport sources said. They said two planes with 330 Syrian fighters and civilians evacuated from two pro-government Shi’ite towns in northwestern Syria arrived in Beirut airport. A plane carrying 126 rebel fighters trapped in Zabadani near the Lebanese border landed at almost the same time in Turkey, the sources said. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Alison Williams)