Evacuations Begin from Rebel-held Damascus Suburbs
Evacuations to transport Syrian rebel fighters and their families from rebel-held areas of the Damascus suburbs to north-western Syria have begun, according to news reports.
Residents of Barzeh gathered on Monday morning to be transferred to Idlib province, reports Agence France-Presse, following an agreement with the Syrian government in a move that mirrors the evacuation of Aleppo In December 2016. The deal was struck on Sunday night, and it is believed 1,500 people will be evacuated.
“Armed men and some of their families have begun leaving Barzeh on 40 buses heading towards northern Syria,” Syria’s state television news service said.
Meanwhile, rebel fighters from the group formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaida affiliate, have agreed to leave Yarmouk, the site of a large Palestinian refugee camp in the southern suburbs of Damascus, to be transported to Idlib province, reports Al Jazeera.
“The operation will continue for some days, and then the Syrian army is expected to take over the part of the camp that was under the control of al-Nusra,” an Al Jazeera reporter said.
SDF Victories Prompt Kurds to Reveal Plans for Mediterranean ‘Corridor’
Syria’s Kurdish rebels are on a collision course with Turkey after they revealed plans to seek approval from the U.S. for a “trade corridor” linking the Mediterranean Sea and the Kurdish region of Rojava, reports the Observer (U.K.).
Emboldened by recent victories in the guise of the Syria Defence Force (the U.S.-led coalition consisting predominantly of Kurdish militia fighters) over the so-called Islamic State, Kurdish officials told the British newspaper of their plans to liberate not just the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) stronghold of Raqqa but also Deir Ezzor and even Idlib, giving them de facto control of a huge swathe of territory linking to the Mediterranean Sea.
“Arriving at the Mediterranean Sea is in our project for northern Syria; it’s a legal right for us to reach the Mediterranean,” said one Kurdish official.
Such lofty ambitions received a boost from an unlikely source on Monday, when the Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moallem referred to Kurdish forces as “legitimate,” according to the Washington Post.
Speaking during a press conference, the senior Syrian official said: “I think that what the Syrian Kurds are doing in fighting Daesh [ISIS] is legitimate in the framework of their keenness on preserving the unity and integrity of Syrian territories.”
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the SDF have claimed another victory in their bid to control Tabqa, home to Syria’s largest dam, and a town with huge strategic importance for an assault on nearby Raqqa. The coalition forces now control most of the town, and are on the verge of seizing areas adjacent to the dam.