Iran and Qatar Broker Evacuation Deal for Four Besieged Towns

Four besieged towns are covered by an evacuation agreement brokered by Iran and Qatar, BBC News reported.

Residents of government-held Fou’a and Kafraya in Idlib province will be bussed out in return for the safe evacuation of residents from the rebel-controlled villages of Madaya and Zabadani outside Damascus, according to the United Kingdom-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Nearly 60,000 people live in the four besieged towns, whose fates were tied together in a September 2015 agreement: Aid was allowed to reach one town only if it reached all four simultaneously. The situation in the four besieged towns is “extremely dire,” according to a warning from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in January.

The agreement was reached late Tuesday night, and evacuations will reportedly start within a week. Iran is a key ally of the Syrian government, while Qatar is one of the main supporters of opposition groups fighting to oust Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Raqqa Will Likely Join Kurdish-Led Federal System, Kurdish Leader Says

Raqqa is expected to join a decentralized Kurdish government, a key Kurdish politician told Reuters.

Raqqa is currently under the control of the so-called Islamic State, and serves as its de facto capital. An alliance of U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab forces known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is closing in on Raqqa in an offensive launched in November 2016.

It is up to the people of Raqqa to determine their future once they are liberated from ISIS, but they will likely join the Kurdish “democratic federal” system, said Saleh Muslim, the cochair of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

The PYD’s affiliated militia, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), already controls large areas of territory in northern Syria, which Turkey sees as a threat. Ankara views the YPG as an extension of its own Kurdish insurgency, which it has been fighting since the 1980s.

Bomb Blast in Homs Taxi Van Kills at Least Five People

A bomb planted in a taxi van in government-held Homs killed several people on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

At least five people were killed and more injured according to Maj. Gen. Khaled Hilal, the police chief in Homs. The van was mostly transporting university students, he said in an interview with state-run Syria TV. Two people were killed according to SOHR.

Government-held areas of Homs have repeatedly been targeted by bombing attacks.

The last opposition-held neighborhood in Homs reached a surrender-and-evacuation deal with the government, and rebels and their families are leaving the district in groups over the next few weeks.

RECOMMENDED READS:

• IRIN: Trapped: How Northwestern Syria Became a Cage for Hundreds of Thousands of Civilians
• The Washington Post: Panic Spreads in Iraq, Syria as Record Numbers of Civilians Are Reported Killed in U.S. Strikes
• Al Jazeera: The Battle for Raqqa Explained
• The Atlantic Council: How Russia Beat Turkey in Syria
• Syria Direct: Hundreds of Children Infected as Measles Outbreak Ravages East Damascus Suburbs, ‘Not Enough’ Vaccines