Syria mass evacuation postponed

The evacuation of more than 3,000 Syrians that was scheduled to take place Sunday from four areas as part of a population transfer has been postponed, opposition activists said, a day after a deadly blast that killed more than 120 people, many of them regime supporters.
The reasons for the delay were not immediately clear. It came as shells fired by Daesh on regime-held parts of the eastern city of Deir Ez-Zor wounded two members of a Russian media delegation visiting the area, according to state-run Syrian news agency SANA.
Russia is a main backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russian journalists enjoy wide access in regime-held parts of the country.
Russia’s Anna-News military news service, which employs the journalists, said one was wounded in the arm while the other suffered leg and stomach wounds. The news service said the two were evacuated adding that their condition was “satisfactory.”
The UN is not overseeing the transfer deal, which involves residents of the pro-regime villages of Foua and Kfarya and the opposition-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani.
All four have been under siege for years, their fate linked through a series of reciprocal agreements that the UN says have hindered aid deliveries.
Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV, earlier said that 3,000 people will be evacuated from Foua and Kfarya, while 200, the vast majority of them fighters, will be evacuated from Zabadani and Madaya.
Abdurrahman and opposition activist Hussam Mahmoud, who is from Madaya, said the evacuation has been delayed.
Abdurrahman said no permission was given for the evacuation to go ahead while Mahmoud said it has been delayed for “logistical reasons.”
It was not immediately clear if the evacuees feared attacks similar to Saturday’s bombing.

Source: Arab News