Thousands head home in Syria after ceasefire

THOUSANDS of displaced Syrians were heading home on Sunday after rebels and the government reached a ceasefire deal in the south following more than two weeks of bombardment.

Under t h e a g re e ment announced Friday after talks between rebels and regime ally Moscow, opposition fighters will hand over territory in the southern province of Daraa near the Jordanian border.

Daraa is seen as the cradle of the uprising that sparked Syria’s seven-year war, and the government retaking full control of it would be a symbolic victory for President Bashar al-Assad.

A regime offensive in Daraa has displaced more than 320,000 people since June 19, the United Nations says, including tens of thousands who fled south to the sealed border with Jordan.

Calm reigned over the region on Saturday as the two sides finalised the ceasefire deal, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“People have started to return to their homes since yesterday” from the Jordanian border, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

He said “over 28,000 displaced people” had returned to 13 villages and other locations.

More than 150 civilians have been killed in the bombing campaign on Daraa since June 19, and trust in the government does not run high.

“A large number of [displaced] have returned to the interior of Syria in the last 24 hours”, a Jordanian military source said.

Osama al-Homsi, 26, said he was hesitant to return to his hometown in southeastern Daraa. “Of course I support the agreement to stop the fighting and bloodshed,” said the man, who sought shelter from the bombardment in a field to the south of Daraa city. “But what is frightening is that it comes with no UN guarantees . . . The Russian and the Syrian regime offer no safety,” he said.

Only when it is clear the ceasefire has really been implemented and “if we are guaranteed that no one will pursue us, will we want to return”, Homsi said.

Friday’s accord follows a string of similar deals with rebels for other areas of Syria, which have seen the regime retake more than 60 percent of the country.

It caps a series of government victories since Russia intervened in 2015 on Assad’s side, including for the former rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta earlier this year.

Under the accord, rebels are expected to hand over their heavy weapons, while those who reject the agreement will be bused with their families to opposition-held areas in the north of the country, state media has said.