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Thousands head home in Syria’s Idlib after deal: monitor
BEIRUT, Sept 19, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Thousands of residents of Syria’s last
major rebel bastion Idlib headed home within 48 hours of a deal being
announced to avoid a government offensive to retake the province, a war
monitor said on Wednesday.
As air strikes intensified earlier this month, the looming threat of a
Russian-backed assault had prompted tens of thousands of civilians to flee
areas near the front line.
But many headed home after a deal was reached between Russia and rebel
supporter Turkey to create a demilitarised buffer zone along the front line,
as the first step in a wider settlement, the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said.
“Around 7,000 people have returned to their towns and villages since the
announcement of the deal on Monday, especially in the southeast of Idlib and
the north of (neighbouring) Hama,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the
Britain-based Observatory.
At a camp for the displaced in the town of Atme on the Turkish border on
Tuesday, dozens of Syrians held up banners welcoming the agreement.
“We will return, God permitting,” said one.
“Thank you to our Turkish brothers,” said another, signed by the people of
a town in the north of Hama province that had been bombarded in recent weeks.
One of the demonstrators, Marhaf al-Jadou, said he was tired of running
from the shelling and air strikes.
“Enough of being displaced and sitting in tents. We want to return to our
homes and our children to their schools,” he said.
The United Nations has given cautious backing to the Russian-Turkish
agreement.
It “will allow for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and for the
saving of civilian lives,” UN humanitarian coordinator in Syria, Ali al-
Zaatari, said on Tuesday.
“We are engaging with all parties involved for more information and how
this can be used to allow us to further access people in need,” he told AFP
on Wednesday.
The civil war in Syria has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced
millions more since it erupted with the brutal repression of anti-government
protests in 2011.
Around half of the three million residents of the rebel zone in and around
Idlib have fled from other parts of Syria recaptured by government forces in
previous offensives.
BSS/AFP/RY/1904 hrs