Evacuation of Syria’s Wadi Barada resumes after pause

By Mohamed Misto, Halit Suleyman and Selen Temizer

DAMASCUS (AA) - The evacuation of Syrian opposition fighters and civilians from the Wadi Barada Valley region near Damascus resumed Monday.

The evacuations are being carried out under a deal with the Syrian regime to allow opposition fighters and their families to leave the besieged region for the northern city of Idlib.

On Sunday, the Syrian military announced that its forces had recaptured all towns and villages in the strategic valley.

A first group of evacuees left the valley for Idlib on Sunday evening aboard 42 buses and 11 ambulances.

Some 1,300 people from Wadi Barada have already arrived in the Qalaat al-Madiq region of Hama province en route to Idlib.

A number of injured people and civilians have already been evacuated, while another 2,100 are expected to soon leave the area.

According to an Anadolu Agency correspondent near the scene, armed opposition fighters deployed in and around the valley will leave the region within the next 48 hours.

Wadi Barada was once home to 100,000 people, but many fled the region during Syria’s devastating six-year civil conflict.

Located 16 kilometers from the center of Damascus and 16 kilometers from the Lebanese border, the valley contains a major spring and pumping station that supplies most of the capital’s water.

In mid-2016, Syrian regime forces and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia imposed a siege on the valley in an effort to seize control of the region’s main source of water.

The valley became the target of regime assaults following last month’s evacuation of opposition fighters and civilians from the northern city of Aleppo to nearby Idlib.