DARAA, Syria — Thousands of displaced Syrians were heading home Saturday after rebels and the government reached a ceasefire deal in the south following more than two weeks of deadly bombardment.

Under the agreement announced Friday after talks between rebels and regime ally Moscow, opposition fighters will hand over territory in the southern province of Daraa near the Jordanian border.

Daraa is seen as the cradle of the uprising that sparked Syria’s seven-year war, and the government retaking full control of it would be a symbolic victory for President Bashar al-Assad.

A Russia-backed regime offensive in Daraa has displaced more than 320,000 people since June 19, the United Nations says, including tens of thousands who fled south to the sealed border with Jordan.

“People have started to return to their homes since yesterday” from the Jordanian border, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

He said “over 28,000 displaced people” had returned to 13 villages and other locations.

“A large number of (displaced) have returned to the interior of Syria in the last 24 hours”, a Jordanian military source told AFP, adding that several thousand remain at the border.