Syria releases hundreds of detainees

SYRIA: The Syrian government released hundreds of detainees, including some who backed the insurgency against President Bashar Assad, on the eve of a major Muslim holiday.

Hours after the release, a car bomb exploded in a rebel-held northern town near the border with Turkey killing and wounding dozens of people, according to the opposition Civil Defence in Idlib, also known as the White Helmets, and the Britain-based opposition monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The explosion at a market in Dana, killed at least 10 people, including children, and wounded 30, according to the Observatory. The blast came hours after an explosion in the town killed two people and wounded others.

Explosions in rebel-held parts of northern Syria are not uncommon and similar blasts have killed scores over the past months.

Justice Minister Hisham alShaar told reporters that the 672 people released on Saturday included 91 women. He said of those released, 588 were freed in the capital Damascus, Assad’s seat of power.

Al-Shaar added that the release came in a bid to ‘‘sustain national reconciliations efforts and the homeland’s unity.’'

The release comes on the eve of Eid el-Fitr, the feast that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Syrian authorities usually release detainees on major holidays. Tens of thousands of people have been detained since Syria’s crisis began in March 2011. The conflict has killed some 400,000 people and displaced half the country’s population.

Syrian government forces, under the cover of Russian airstrikes, now control the five largest cities. The push has led to so-called reconciliations in which opposition fighters either surrendered in exchange for amnesty or moved to rebel-held areas in northern Syria.

In northern Syria, the USbacked Syrian Democratic Forces released some 200 IS members in Raqqa province at the request of tribal leaders in the region, according to the Observatory. All those released in the town of Tabqa and the city of Raqqa had jobs with IS such as preachers or employees in the extremist group civilian institutions.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have been in Raqqa since June 6, under the cover of airstrikes by the US-led coalition, with the aim of liberating the Islamic State’s de facto capital of the extremists. - AP

PHOTO: REUTERS An Islamic State prisoner, who was pardoned by a council that is expected to govern Raqqa once the group is dislodged from the Syrian city, gestures in Ain Issa village, north of Raqqa, Syria.