Thousands evacuate pro-regime Syria towns

AL-EIS, Syria: Several thousand residents evacuated two pro-regime towns in northern Syria on Thursday, putting an end to one of the longest sieges of the country’s seven-year civil war.

Fuaa and Kafraya in Idlib province were the last remaining areas under blockade in Syria and a rare example of pro-government towns surrounded by rebel forces.

The towns were besieged for three years by rebels and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Jihadist alliance led by Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate. Surrounded and bombed by hostile factions, the towns had become a rallying cry for the government and its ally Iran.

A deal was reached on Tuesday between regime-backer Russia and rebel-ally Turkey to see the residents taken to government-held territory in exchange for the release of prisoners from regime jails.

On Wednesday morning, barricades on the road leading into the towns were removed to let dozens of buses in, AFP’s correspondent there said. Just after midnight, the buses drove out of Fuaa and Kafraya and Thursday morning were at the village of Al-Eis, crossing from rebel-controlled territory into regime-held areas in Aleppo province.