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SOUAGHIYA (Syria) – Buses began Wednesday night to evacuate thousands of pro-regime civilians and fighters from Foua and Kefraya, two Syrian localities besieged for three years by rebels and jihadists .
An AFP correspondent on the spot counted about twenty buses leaving these localities in the framework of an agreement between Russia, allied with the regime, and Turkey, support of the rebels.
Fighters and civilians were visible on board the vehicles, as well as a number of personal belongings.
The evacuations concern the totality of the inhabitants of the two villages which must be transferred to territories under governmental control in the neighboring province of Aleppo, according to a NGO based in Great Britain, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (OSDH).
The predominantly Shiite and regime-affiliated villages of Foua and Kefraya (northwest) are besieged by rebels and the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, al-Qaeda's former Syria, which controls most of the province.
On Wednesday, on the road to the two villages, a besieged zone official and a Hayat Tahrir al-Shahm official had kicked off the operations. Barricades of land blocking the pbadage were removed and 84 buses were allowed to enter, said an AFP correspondent.
" Dozens of buses and ambulances entered the two localities of Foua and Kefraya to rescue the inhabitants besieged by terrorists ," the official Sana news agency reported. term usually used by the regime to refer to all insurgents.
In total, some 6,900 people, civilians and combatants, are to be evacuated, according to a source within Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. In return, 1,500 detainees will be released from the regime's prisons.
– " Gesture of Good Will " –
The Siege of Foua and Kefraya began in 2015 when rebels and jihadists invaded Idleb Province, cutting off access to food and drugs. The United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent provided humanitarian badistance in synchronized reciprocal operations with two government-backed cities near Damascus, Zabadani and Madaya.
In April 2017, all four cities also underwent coordinated evacuation operations. But a suicide attack on a convoy of civilians evacuated from Foua and Kefraya left 150 dead, including 72 children.
The traumatized residents who stayed behind said they feared that the scenario would be repeated during the new evacuations.
Security was strengthened in the night from Wednesday to Thursday as the buses were leaving the beleaguered localities very slowly, with Hayat Tahrir al-Ham fighters surrounding the convoy.
Just before midnight, ambulances carrying 15 sick and wounded residents left first and headed in the dark to the Al-Eis crossing point, which connects the rebel-held Idleb Province. , to parts of the province of Aleppo controlled by the regime, found AFP.
A source in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham said it was a " gesture of goodwill " before the complete evacuation.
– " Right of Return " –
According to the OSDH, the Russian-Turkish agreement would also ensure that Ildleb does not undergo a military offensive by the regime.
The province is bordering Turkey to the northwest, but is almost completely surrounded by regime-controlled territory.
It is home to more than two million people, including Syrian civilians and rebels who came to flee from other territories under surrender agreements.
Activists and human rights groups have warned that such population transfers may amount to forced displacement.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) insisted that any population movement must be voluntary.
" Any evacuation, in Syria or elsewhere, must respect the basic humanitarian rules: civilians may choose to stay or leave, civilians must be protected from attack at all times, evacuations are temporary. civilians have the right to return home "the ICRC wrote on Twitter.
Triggered in 2011, after the repression by the regime of peaceful demonstrations demanding democratic reforms, the conflict in Syria has become more complex over the years with the involvement of foreign countries and jihadist groups, on a territory of more in addition fragmented.
He made more than 350,000 dead and displaced millions of people.
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