Mass evacuation in Syria delayed after blast kills scores

BEIRUT — The evacuation of more than 3,000 Syrians that was scheduled to take place Sunday from four areas as part of a population transfer was postponed, opposition activists said, a day after a deadly blast that killed more than 120 people, many of them government supporters.

The reasons for the delay were not immediately clear.

The United Nations is not overseeing the transfer deal, which involves residents of the pro-government villages of Foua and Kfarya and the oppositionheld towns of Madaya and Zabadani. All four have been under siege for years, their fate linked through a series of reciprocal agreements that the U.N. says have hindered aid deliveries.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britainbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV, earlier said that 3,000 people will be evacuated from Foua and Kfarya, while 200, the vast majority of them fighters, will be evacuated from Zabadani and Madaya.

Abdurrahman and opposition activist Hussam Mahmoud, who is from Madaya, said the evacuation has been delayed. Abdurrahman said no permission was given for the evacuation while Mahmoud said it was delayed for “logistical reasons.”

Abdurrahman said Saturday’s blast — which hit an area where thousands of pro-government evacuees had been waiting for hours — killed 126.

No one has claimed the attack, but the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-affiliated Fatah al-Sham Front have targeted civilians in government areas.