Syrian deal underway to evacuate thousands
BEIRUT — The Syrian government and rebels evacuated more than 7,000 people from four towns Friday in the latest coordinated population transfer in Syria’s six-year civil war.
As diplomacy in Moscow focused on the U.S. airstrikes targeting the country, more than 2,350 people were bused out of the twin towns of Madaya and Zabadani near Damascus. An additional 5,000 people were evacuated on 75 buses from the rebel-beseiged towns of Foua and Kfraya, according to Abdul Hakim Baghdadi, a pro-government interlocutor who helped negotiate the transfer from the latter two towns.
“Honestly, when we left Madaya, I felt sadness, anger, and sorrow. But now, on the road, I don’t feel anything. I feel cold as ice,” said Muhammad Darwish, a resident bused out of Madaya, besieged by pro-government forces in the mountains west of the capital.
“There was no heating, no food, nothing to sustain our lives. We left so that God willing [the siege] may ease on those who remain,” said Ahmad Afandar, 19, another evacuee.
In a video posted on Facebook from one of the buses departing Madaya, a man identified as Hossam said: “We were forced to leave. We left our land, our parents, our memories, our childhood — everything.”
Evacuees from the progovernment towns were dropped in one area of government-controlled Aleppo city, before being transported to a temporary shelter camp in another part of the city.
A provincial governor, Alaa Ibrahim, said the government is set to restore its control over the towns once it is satisfied that no armed men remain.
Critics have denounced the deal as a forced rearrangement of the country’s population, with sectarian overtones. Through a deft policy of divide and conquer, President Bashar Assad has steered what started as a broad movement against his authority in 2011 into a choice between him and Sunni Islamist rule. Madaya and Zabadani are believed to now be wholly inhabited by Sunnis. The predominantly Shiite Foua and Kfraya have remained loyal to the Syrian government, while the surrounding Idlib province has come under hard-line Sunni, rebel rule.
The evacuation deal was brokered by Qatar, negotiating on behalf of the rebels, and Iran, on behalf of the government, in March. The United Nations is not supervising the evacuations.
When the current evacuations are completed, they will be the first in a number of rounds stretching over two months to evacuate some 30,000 Syrians. Another 3,000 people were expected to be bused out of Foua and Kfraya on Friday evening, according to Baghdadi.
Madaya and Zabadani are the latest in a constellation of towns once held by the opposition around Damascus to submit to government rule.
Pro-government forces have held the two towns under twin sieges for nearly two years.