ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Evacuated fighters and their families are being transferred from the rebel-held town of Dumayr, northeast of Damascus, to the Kurdish canton of Afrin in Syria’s northeast under a Turkish brokered agreement with the regime.
The evacuation began on Thursday and continued into the weekend.
Fighters from Jaish al-Islam along with their families have been transported by bus to Jarabulus, which is under control of Turkish-backed rebels.
About 1,500 fighters and 3,500 family members were being evacuated after turning over their heavy weapons, according to SANA.
AFP photographed 31 buses carrying some 1,600 evacuees from Dumayr arriving in Azaz, north of Aleppo on Friday. Most of the buses then continued on to Afrin.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the evacuees had "chosen Afrin as their destination."
Rebels from Eastern Ghouta have previously told the UK-based conflict monitor that they resented being relocated to Afrin, saying the decision was "imposed by the Turkish authorities on the displaced people of Ghouta, through carrying out an organized demographic change."
Afrin civilians are angry that they are being prevented from returning home a month after Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies seized the canton from the Kurdish-led People's Protection Units (YPG).
Photos: AFP
The evacuation began on Thursday and continued into the weekend.
Fighters from Jaish al-Islam along with their families have been transported by bus to Jarabulus, which is under control of Turkish-backed rebels.
About 1,500 fighters and 3,500 family members were being evacuated after turning over their heavy weapons, according to SANA.
AFP photographed 31 buses carrying some 1,600 evacuees from Dumayr arriving in Azaz, north of Aleppo on Friday. Most of the buses then continued on to Afrin.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the evacuees had "chosen Afrin as their destination."
Rebels from Eastern Ghouta have previously told the UK-based conflict monitor that they resented being relocated to Afrin, saying the decision was "imposed by the Turkish authorities on the displaced people of Ghouta, through carrying out an organized demographic change."
Afrin civilians are angry that they are being prevented from returning home a month after Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies seized the canton from the Kurdish-led People's Protection Units (YPG).
Photos: AFP
