Express & Star

Thousands evacuated from pro-government villages besieged by Syrian rebels

The regime is expected to release some detained insurgents in return.

Published
Syria

Over 7,000 people from two Syrian pro-government villages that were besieged by the rebels for three years have been evacuated, Syria’s state-run media has reported.

The emptying-out of villages of Foua and Kfarya under a deal negotiated between government forces and the rebels over the past few months marks one of the largest population transfers in Syria’s civil war.

In exchange, the Syrian government is expected to release a number of detained insurgents.

Al-Ikhbariya TV said all buses carrying residents of Foua and Kfarya had left the northern countryside of Idlib and that there were no more civilians there.

Syria
Buses carrying Syrian citizens evacuated from the two pro-government villages of Foua and Kfarya, at Tel el-Eis (Sana/AP)

The evacuation of the villages was used as a negotiating chip in earlier population transfers along conflict lines.

The United Nations was not part of the negotiations and has criticised such transfers as forced displacement.

An agreement to evacuate Foua and Kfarya last year was halted after a car bombing killed over 100 people at a park for buses meant to bring the evacuees out.

Shortly after leaving, more than 19 buses carrying the villagers Thursday arrived at the al-Eiss crossing in the countryside of Aleppo, while more than 51 buses arrived at a makeshift centre for displaced people in Jibreen, Al-Ikhbariya said.

The buses had travelled through rebel-held territory to arrive there.

Evacuation deals and population transfers have been a fixture in the seven-year Syrian conflict and has seen tens of thousands of rebels and civilians transported from rebel-held areas to the northern province of Idlib and surrounding opposition-held territory amid advances by President Bashar Assad’s forces.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.