Activists: Syrian government will allow food into blockaded rebel-held town in new truce deal

BEIRUT – Syrian activists say that government officials have promised to allow food into a rebel-held town that's been under blockade for months, if residents raise the Syrian national flag and if rebels hand over heavy weapons.

Rami Abdurrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an activist in the town known by the nickname Qusai Zakarya said residents of Moadamiyeh, west of Damascus, had raised the national flag, symbolic of President Bashar Assad's government. Syrians opposed to Assad's rule use a different flag.

Zakarya said residents were waiting for Syrian military officials to take the rebels' weapons. He spoke on condition he be identified by his activism nickname for fear of retaliation.

He estimated there are some 8,000 civilians in Moadamiyeh, where activists say malnutrition is rife.