A Dozen Civilians Evacuated from Besieged Rebel Enclave

Medical workers evacuated 12 critically ill civilians from the besieged Eastern Ghouta suburbs of the capital Damascus on Wednesday in the second such round of medical evacuations from the area, Agence France-Presse reported.

International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson Ingy Sedky told AFP that most of the patients were children who “suffer from cancer, chronic diseases and heart diseases.”

Earlier this week, another four civilians were evacuated. According to AFP, a total of 29 emergency cases are expected to be transferred out of Eastern Ghouta in the coming days.

Citing the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, AFP said the government allowed for medical evacuations to take place after one of Eastern Ghouta’s largest rebel groups agreed to release a number of detainees.

According to Reuters, the Jaish al-Islam rebel group agreed to release 29 captives in exchange for the evacuation of 29 of the most critical cases.

Eastern Ghouta is one of the last rebel holdouts in the outskirts of the Syrian capital. Around 400,000 people are trapped in the besieged suburbs, with limited access to food and medicine.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that 137 children in the region are in need of urgent medical treatment. Last week, Jan Egeland, the head of the U.N.’s humanitarian taskforce for Syria, warned that around 500 people in the area were in need of urgent medical evacuation.

Rolling Back Conciliatory Tone, Erdogan Calls Assad a Terrorist

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan described his Syrian counterpart on Wednesday as a terrorist, saying he should not play any part in Syria’s future, the New York Times reported.

“[President Bashar] Assad, I am saying this loud and clear, is a terrorist who spreads state terrorism,” Erdogan said at a joint news conference with his Tunisian counterpart, Beji Caid Essebsi, in Tunis. “Would the Syrian people like to see someone like this stay in charge?”

Erdogan also said that it was “impossible to move ahead with Assad in Syria.”

“How could we embrace the future with the president of a Syria who killed close to one million of its citizens?” he asked rhetorically.

Erdogan’s comments are out of step with the softened approach that Ankara had adopted towards Assad in recent years.

The statement was made only one day after Russia announced that Kurdish groups in Syria, whom Ankara considers to be terrorists, would be allowed to attend Moscow-sponsored Syria peace talks in the city of Sochi next month.

“Erdogan appeared to be reminding Russia that it cannot dictate Syria’s future alone, especially on issues sensitive to Turkey, most notably those involving Syria’s Kurdish groups,” the New York Times said in reference to the Turkish president’s statement.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry fired back at Erdogan’s statement, calling the Turkish leader a terrorist sympathizer who bore “prime responsibility for the bloodshed in Syria,” the New York Times said.

Rebels Near Israel Border Negotiating Transfer Deal

Rebels pinned down in a small enclave southwest of Damascus are negotiating a deal with the Syrian government that would secure safe transfer to rebel-held territory in the country’s north, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The rebels are in the foothills of Mount Hermon – an area where the Israeli and Lebanese borders meet with Syria. In recent weeks, Syrian troops and Iran-backed paramilitaries working alongside Druze militias have been escalating their assault on rebels who are encircled in the town of Beit Jinn, the last opposition enclave in the region.

The area around Beit Jinn is sensitive because of its proximity to the Israel-controlled Golan Heights.

“There is now negotiation on the departure of fighters and those who wish to leave with them,” Abu Kanaan, an official in a local rebel group told Reuters.

“The militias are trying to convince them to evacuate to Idlib … There has been no agreement reached yet,” Ibrahim al-Jebawi, an official with a Free Syrian Army faction told Reuters.

Fayez al-Dweiri, a retired Jordanian general, told Reuters this week that the push by pro-government forces is “an effort by Iran and its proxy Hezbollah to expand the lines of engagement with Israel.”

Recommended Reads:

• Al Jazeera: Letters to Raqqa’s Missing
• The Atlantic: The Perils of a Post-ISIS Middle East
• Al-Monitor: Reviving the Kurdish Language in Northern Syria
• Anadolu Agency: Analysis – Post-Daesh Challenges for Syria
• Voice of America: IS Fighters Fleeing to Assad-controlled Parts of Syria