The Sham Liberation Organization and the Iranian side reached an agreement to vacate the two towns of Kafria and Al-Fowah in the suburbs of Idlib, in exchange for the release of 1,500 detainees.
The location of the negotiations between the parties, or the negotiating mechanism, has not been announced. The timing and mechanism for implementing the agreement have not been fully announced.
On Tuesday evening, 57 buses reached Kafraya and Al-Fowah to start transporting the residents of the two towns. On Wednesday morning another 60 buses from Aleppo left for the two towns as well.
The deal will include about 7,000 civilians and fighters living in the two towns, in return for the release of 1,500 detainees in the regime’s prisons, 90 percent of whom were arrested in 2017 and 2018.
The food and non-food shipments that the regime has been dropping from the air to the people of both towns since the blockade in 2015 have witnessed a significant reduction recently, in what appears to be pressure from the regime on the people of the two town to push them to approve the evacuation.
SHRC – 18-7-2018