Another opposition-held Damascus suburb to be evacuated on Wednesday

Another opposition-held Damascus suburb to be evacuated on Wednesday
Another Damascus suburb will be handed over to the Syrian regime on Wednesday, following an agreement which will force rebel fighters and some residents to leave their homes for Idlib.
2 min read
19 October, 2016
The Damascus suburbs have been battered by six years of war [Anadolu]
Damascus suburb Moadamiyeh al-Shams will see another round of evacuations on Wednesday morning, following a local truce which will power return in the district to the Syrian regime.

Around 3,000 local rebel fighters and residents will leave their homes and head north to opposition-held Idlib province on Wednesday as part of a deal agreed between local opposition and regime officials.

The town has been the site of stoic resistance by residents since the start of the Syrian revolution.

Moadamiyeh has been besieged by regime forces since 2013. Since then, Free Syrian Army fighters have been on the defensive and residents have endured chemical attacks, barrel bombing, and starvation.

A local resident said that internet was due to be cut on Tuesday night, and would remain off for the following ten days.

Three hundred residents left the district for Idlib in September, as part of the evacuation deal.

Such truces have been criticised by human rights groups who describe the deals as ethnic cleansing and a demographic reconfiguring to strengthen the regime's control of the capital.

Suburbs such as Moadamiyeh have been effective starved into submission, critics say, with residents given a choice of leaving their homes or staying behind, but at huge personal risk.

Moadamiyeh is the fourth Damascus suburb to be evacuated in local deals, which are not connected to the United Nations.

Daraya was completely emptied of residents in August, with pro-regime militants allegedly took over homes in the Damascus suburb.