Syria war: Evacuations begin in besieged towns

A rebel fighter stands near buses carrying people evacuated from the two villages of Kefraya and FoahImage copyright
Reuters

Image caption

Dozens of buses are being used in the evacuation

The Syrian government and rebel groups have begun an operation to move people out of four besieged towns, activists say.

People from the north-western towns of Foah and Kefraya are being taken to government-held areas near Aleppo.

Evacuees from rebel-held Madaya, near Damascus, have been bussed to Idlib province. It is not clear if nearby Zabadani, included in the deal, is also being evacuated.

More than 30,000 people will be moved.

Last month, the UN described the situation in the four towns as “catastrophic”, with more than 64,000 civilians “trapped in a cycle of daily violence and deprivation”.

Many people are reported to have died as a result of shortages of food or medicine.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Syria pledged to investigate a suspected chemical attack in Syria earlier this month that the West has blamed on the Syrian government.

But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has already said reports of a chemical attack committed by his forces were “100% fabrication”.

Foah and Kefraya, most of whose residents are Shia Muslims, have been encircled by rebels and al-Qaeda-linked Sunni jihadists since March 2015.

Madaya and Zabadani, which are predominantly Sunni, have meanwhile been besieged since June 2015 by the Syrian army and fighters from Lebanon’s Shia Islamist Hezbollah movement.

Image copyright
Reuters

Image caption

People evacuated from Foah and Kefraya have been taken to Rashideen

As part of what is known as the “Four Towns Agreement”, the warring parties have allowed the UN and the Red Cross to deliver aid on a few occasions in the past two years and to remove limited numbers of sick and injured people.

Those who want to be evacuated from Foah and Kefraya will reportedly be transported to government-controlled areas of Aleppo, while Madaya and Zabadani residents will be taken to rebel-held areas around the city of Idlib and the town of Jarablus if they wish to leave.

The evacuation deal has been brokered by Iran, an ally of Mr Assad’s government, and Qatar, which supports the rebels. But critics say it amounts to forced demographic change.

Some 4.7 million people live in hard-to-reach and besieged areas in Syria, including 644,000 in UN-declared besieged locations.

Media captionMr Assad, in an interview approved by the Syrian presidency: “A 100%… fabrication.”

The meeting in Moscow on Friday between Russian, Iranian and Syrian foreign ministers was the first held between the three allies since the US launched a missile attack on a Syrian airbase in response to the alleged chemical attack.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there was evidence that the suspected attack was “staged”. He said Russia, Iran and Syria would conduct an “exhaustive, objective and impartial” investigation.

He also said the three allies were unanimous in considering the US missile strikes on Shayrat airbase “an act of aggression”.

The alleged chemical attack targeted the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, and killed more than 80 people, including many children.

Syria war: Evacuations begin in besieged towns}