Syria:

Terrorists Attack Buses Heading towards Fua'a, Kafraya to Evacuate Civilians

Rasa - Terrorists set fire at several buses that were going to the besieged towns of Fua'a and Kafraya in Northern Idlib to transfer the injured and patients to government-controlled regions, violating the Aleppo evacuation agreement with Damascus once again.

News ID: 425883

Date: 18 December 2016 - 20:37

RNA - The terrorist groups deployed in Northern Idlib attacked the convoy of buses on way to Fua'a and Kafraya and set them ablaze to prevent evacuation of the injured and patients.

The move by the terrorists came as tens of buses had also arrived at the militant-held regions of Eastern Aleppo to take them out of the city in return for the evacuation plan in Fua'a and Kafraya.

Reports also said that heavy infighting erupted between Fatah al-Sham Front (previously known as the al-Nusra Front) and Ahrar al-Sham near Fua'a and Kafraya. Several buses that were on their way towards Fua'a and Kafraya to take civilians out of the towns were burned in the infighting.

As their friends set the buses in Idlib on fire, the pockets of militants that are still in the Eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo city and plan to evacuate the region are insisting on their rapid relocation from the war-hit city.

Elam al-Harbi news website that operates as the Syrian Armed Forces' media center said the terrorists in Eastern Aleppo are preparing to set fire at their bases and arms depots, something which had also earlier been done by their comrades who left the city on Thursday and Friday.

Reports said earlier today that evacuation of militants from Aleppo city in return for the concurrent transfer of civilians from Fua'a and Kafraya is most likely to restart in the next few hours as tens of buses have arrived in the two regions.

The Aleppo agreement that was suspended on Friday due to the violation of the truce and the terms of the evacuation agreement by Jeish al-Fatah terrorists, who shelled al-Ramouseh corridor in Southern Aleppo and blocked exit of civilians from Fua'a and Kafraya, will go operational again in the next few hours.

A field source said that due to the Damascus officials' lack of trust in the terrorists' full implementation of the Aleppo agreement, evacuation operation of terrorists from the city will be done in several stages.

Simultaneous with the arrival of buses to evacuate militants from the Eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo city, a number of buses have entered Fua'a and Kafraya to start transferring the injured and patients from these two besieged towns.

In the meantime, severe differences have erupted between Fatah al-Sham Front and Ahrar al-Sham over the exit of civilians from Fua'a and Kafraya.

Local sources privy to the terrorist groups reported that a number of militants intend to prevent exit of people from Fua'a and Kafraya.

The buses for evacuation of militants have gone through al-Ramouseh corridor under the supervision of the International Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and have entered the Eastern neighborhoods of the city to transfer the remaining pockets of militants and their families to the Southwestern countryside of the city.

The militants have left their positions in the Eastern neighborhoods and gathered around a square, waiting for the green buses.

A military source underlined that evacuation operation of the militants and their families in Aleppo will be carried out concurrent with the exit of civilians from Fua'a and Kafraya.

Meantime, reports say buses and the vehicles of SARC have arrived at the main checkpoints of the towns of Fua'a and Kafraya in Northern Idlib.

A security official of the Aleppo operations room disclosed on Saturday that evacuation of the militants from Eastern Aleppo came to a halt after the terrorists insisted on keeping the PoWs and played around with releasing the residents of Fua'a and Kafraya.

The security official reiterated that the lack of commitment by the remaining terrorists in Eastern Aleppo to the evacuation agreements was the main reason for halt to evacuation operation in the region.

The source noted that the Al-Nusra Front terrorists despite agreeing to set free the Syrian army's PoWs were refusing to do so and insisted on taking the PoWs with themselves during evacuation from Eastern Aleppo.

The Syrian security source reiterated that the al-Nusra Front was shrugging off implementation of evacuation the injured people from Fua'a and Kafraya in Idlib.

The source noted that after the al-Nusra hindered evacuation of residents of al-Fua'a and Kafraya, about 2,000 popular armed men moved to al-Ramouseh and prevented the exit of the remaining terrorists and their families from the region.

He said that over 3,000 residents of Fua'a and Kafraya need immediate medical care, adding, "Over 40 percent of the people injured in Fua'a and Kafraya are children."

The Syrian authorities and terrorist groups stationed in the Eastern parts of Aleppo reached an agreement on December 15 to evacuate militants from the region in return for relocating thousands of besieged civilians from Fua'a and Kafraya in Idlib to government-ruled territories.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed in a phone call on Saturday with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts the situation in Syria following the operation to liberate Eastern Aleppo and reached an agreement to hold a meeting in the near future, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

During the conversation the ministers stressed the "importance of continuation of agreed efforts of the international community to provide humanitarian assistance to all people in need" as well as the need to promote a "transition to a comprehensive political settlement in Syria based on the UN Security Council Resolution 2254," according to the statement, sputnik reported.

"On December 17, on the initiative of the Russian side a telephone conversation of Lavrov with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran was held. The ministers discussed the situation in Syria in the context of the liberation of the eastern part of Aleppo and the evacuation of civilians from the city as well as the objectives to alleviate the situation of civilians in other parts of the country," the statement read.

They also agreed to hold a meeting in the near future, the statement read.

847/940