Aid agencies in Syria have evacuated a rebel-held Damascus suburb of hundreds of people, a government-aligned Palestinian group said yesterday, in a rare moment of co-ordination between the government and rebel forces.

Granting relief groups access to an estimated 250,000 people trapped by fighting across Syria was one of the goals of the peace talks held last week in Switzerland.

However, the sides could not agree on passage for an aid convoy to reach 2500 people trapped in Homs, Syria's third-largest city.