syria evacuations bring damascusarea town under state control
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Syria evacuations bring Damascus-area town under state control

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Syria evacuations bring Damascus-area town under state control

A Syrian man fires into the air to celebrate as buses transporting Syrians evacuated
Beirut - Arab Today

The last rebel fighters have left the Syrian town of Zabadani near Damascus as part of a reciprocal evacuation deal for four besieged towns that had been interrupted after a bomb attack hit one convoy, state media and a war monitor said on Wednesday.

Thousands of people also left the rebel-besieged Shi’ite towns of al-Foua and Kefraya in Idlib province under the deal. “Al-Zabadani has become completely empty of militants” who either evacuated or accepted government rule, state television said, broadcasting from the town which had long been under siege by pro-government forces.

State media said around 500 rebels and their families departed al-Zabadani and nearby areas for rebel-held territory in northwest Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 3,000 people left al-Foua and Kefraya heading towards Aleppo city, which the government controls. They included nearly 700 pro-government forces, the Britain-based war monitoring group added.

Under the agreement between the warring sides, civilians and pro-government fighters were being moved out of the two Shi’ite towns, in exchange for Sunni rebels and civilians getting bussed out of the towns of Zabadani and Madaya.

Bomb attack

The evacuations had been stopped after a bomb attack on a convoy of evacuees from al-Foua and Kefraya on Saturday reportedly killed 126 people, including more than 60 children. Alaa Ibrahim, governor of the Damascus suburbs, told state television in Madaya that the government would “gradually restore all its services” now that rebels had left the town. The same would soon happen in Zabadani, he said.

Thousands of Syrians have evacuated mostly besieged rebel areas in recent months under deals between President Bashar al-Assad’s government and insurgents fighting for six years to unseat him.

Ambulances brought wounded people from the convoy attack into government-held Aleppo and took them to hospital on Wednesday, state media said. Several people from al-Foua and Kefraya who were injured in the blast told Reuters they had spent three days in rebel territory, where they received first aid and food, before arriving in Aleppo.

“My face was dripping with blood,” said Fatmeh Yassin, 18, who suffered eye injuries from the blast. “Later, they took us to a hospital around Bab al-Hawa” near the Syrian-Turkish border. Yassin lost her brother who had been in the convoy with her and “hadn’t heard anything about him in days,” she said at a hospital in Aleppo.

Sharif al-Hussein from Kefraya waited at the same hospital for doctors to check his 6-year-old son. “There is shrapnel in his eyes because he was sitting at the window of the bus when the explosion happened,” said al-Hussein, who had also received emergency aid in the opposition area near the Turkish border.

“They told us this morning to get ready for the (Syrian Arab) Red Crescent to come get us,” he said. “We couldn’t believe it.”

source: Alarabiya

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

syria evacuations bring damascusarea town under state control syria evacuations bring damascusarea town under state control

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

syria evacuations bring damascusarea town under state control syria evacuations bring damascusarea town under state control

 



GMT 06:46 2017 Wednesday ,04 October

Pope to bless icon for Holy Family Journey to Egypt

GMT 15:51 2017 Tuesday ,22 August

FVP informed on arrangements for Sudan in meetings

GMT 04:55 2016 Monday ,03 October

Alec Baldwin nails it as Trump on ‘SNL’

GMT 21:15 2017 Tuesday ,19 September

Security forces intensify their presence in Kirkuk

GMT 03:39 2017 Saturday ,30 September

Al Jawaheri economic improvement

GMT 10:29 2018 Saturday ,06 January

Siniora meets German Ambassador

GMT 06:27 2017 Tuesday ,26 December

Embassy in Russia marks National Days

GMT 19:06 2017 Thursday ,05 January

Moral policing in Maharashtra, too

GMT 11:49 2017 Wednesday ,26 April

OIC Condemns Attack on Military Base in Afghanistan

GMT 18:35 2017 Monday ,27 February

UK foreign secretary leaves Egypt

GMT 14:34 2017 Monday ,21 August

Bahrain-Malaysia ties praised

GMT 18:36 2017 Sunday ,30 July

Fayez explains impact of differences

GMT 08:54 2017 Wednesday ,17 May

New traffic rules to impact Dubai visitors

GMT 21:00 2017 Tuesday ,28 March

Immigration minister heads for Kuwait
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday