In Syria, first phase of population transfer concludes
BEIRUT — The first phase of a troubled population transfer concluded Friday as thousands of displaced Syrians were evacuated out of besieged areas and an agreement was reached to release hundreds of government detainees, government media and rebels said.
One of the largest population transfers in Syria’s civil war had been tied to the fate of 26 hostages, including members of Qatar’s ruling family, who had been held by a Shiite militia in Iraq and were released Friday. Qatar, which is the patron of some Syrian armed opposition groups, was a main negotiator of the deal. Iran, which backs Iraqi and Lebanese militias fighting in Syria, served as the other negotiator.
With the transfer completed Friday, the first phase of the population swap deal in Syria comes to an end. A total of 8,000 residents from the pro-government villages of Foua and Kfarya — besieged for two years amid Syria’s bloody civil war by anti-government rebels— and nearly 3,000 evacuees from the rebel-held Zabadani, Madaya and surrounding areas, have left their homes.
Under the deal, an estimated 30,000 people will be transferred from their hometowns over 60 days, most of them from the pro-government villages in northern Idlib. It is one Syria’s largest population transfers, which the opposition has described as “demographic engineering,” and the first to involve a reciprocal population swap.