THOUSANDS EVACUATE FOUR SYRIAN TOWNS
>> BEIRUT: After nearly two years of punishing siege and bombardment by their enemies, more than 7,000 people were bussed out of four towns in Syria on Friday in the most recent population transfer during six years of war.
The evacuations of civilians and fighters highlighted the prevalence of siege warfare in Syria and the extent to which prolonged violence has altered the human fabric of communities across the country.
As President Bashar al-Assad has fought to crush a rebel movement seeking his ouster, his forces have frequently surrounded rebel communities and blocked aid deliveries and trade as a way to impose hunger and force surrender. Where they can, rebels have done the same.
Many of those squeezed from their communities do not expect to return, joining the half of Syria’s prewar population of 22 million that has been displaced by the war. Five million of those have become refugees in neighbouring countries, Europe and elsewhere.
“The world, Europe and the Middle East can expect more refugees, and nobody wants that,” said Valerie Szybala, executive director of The Syria Institute, adding that using encirclement to force people from their homes also risked sowing the seeds of future conflicts.
“In some ways, it means that this conflict will never be over,” she said. “It is creating a permanent rationale for conflict and creating schisms that are not going to be easy to heal.”
According to Siege Watch, a project run by The Syria Institute and the Dutch organisation PAX, more than 900,000 Syrians are living under siege in 37 areas across the country and more than one million more are under threat of siege.
In his quest to subdue rebellious communities, Mr Assad has blockaded rebels along with civilians, forcing them to agree either to leave or to surrender their arms and reconcile with his government.
Such tactics, often accompanied by bombardment, have helped Mr Assad regain control of a number of communities near the capital, Damascus, as well parts of the cities of Homs and Aleppo.
Critics say the strategy equals forced population transfer, which can be a war crime. An inquiry by the United Nations said the evacuation of rebel-held eastern Aleppo last year amounted to a war crime because it was coerced by Russian and Syrian military action. More than 20,000 people were transported out of the city before Assad forces consolidated their control.
“It is no surprise to the government that if you block aid deliveries and continue air strikes, people are going to eventually surrender and withdraw,” said Lama Fakih, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division for Human Rights Watch, adding that displacing people separates them from their livelihoods and fractures their social networks.
Friday’s evacuations concerned four towns. Fua and Kefarya, two Shia communities in Idlib province loyal to Mr Assad, have been surrounded by hardline Sunni insurgents for about two years. Madaya and Zabadani, two mostly Sunni towns near Syria’s western border with Lebanon, are surrounded by Syrian government forces and fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia.
About 5,000 residents were removed from the Shia villages on Friday and 3,000 more were to be taken out by day’s end, according to Firas Amoura, who helped coordinate the evacuation on behalf of the Syrian government. More than 2,200 people were bused out of Madaya and about 150 rebel fighters were waiting to removed from Zabadani.
The evacuations were brokered by the Syrian government and Iran on one side and Qatar, representing the rebels, on the other, and carried out by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. The United Nations did not play a role.
The people who left the Shia villages were taken to Aleppo. Buses departing the rebel-held towns headed for Idlib province.
Leaving home was bitter for many, but came after a long period of deprivation.
“Everybody wants to leave,” Medhi Kirbash, a resident of one of the Shia towns said. “We hated even the clothes we have been wearing for the past two years of siege.”