Car Bombing Kills At Least 24 Evacuees Syria

A suicide car bombing killed at least 24 people
Saturday in an attack near buses for Syrians
evacuated from two besieged government-held
towns, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the
attack in Rashidin, west of Aleppo, targeted
residents evacuated from the northern towns of
Fuaa and Kafraya under a deal reached between
the regime and rebels. An AFP reporter in rebel-held Rashidin saw several
bodies, body parts and blood scattered on the
ground. “The suicide bomber was driving a van
supposedly carrying aid supplies and detonated
near the buses,” the Observatory said. It warned that the death toll was likely to rise
given the “several dozen wounded” at the blast
site. State television said the car bombing had been
carried out by “terrorist groups”, a term the
regime applies to all armed opposition groups. It was not immediately clear if rebels at the transit
point were among the dead. The attack took place as thousands of evacuees
from the besieged government-held towns of Fuaa
and Kafraya waited to continue their journey to
regime-controlled Aleppo, the coastal province of
Latakia, or Damascus. More than 5,000 people who had lived under
crippling siege for more than two years left the
two towns, along with 2,200 evacuated from rebel-
held Madaya and Zabadani, on Friday. They were headed for regime or rebel-held areas
via government-held second city Aleppo. Thousands of evacuees from Fuaa and Kafraya
were stuck on the road in Rashidin when the
bomb went off. The evacuation, brokered by regime ally Iran and
rebel backer Qatar, is set to see more than 30,000
people evacuated in two stages. The deal had stipulated that in the first stage 8,000
people, including 2,000 loyalist fighters, leave the
two towns but in the event just 5,000, including
1,300 fighters left, the Britain-based Observatory
said. Evacuees were left stranded as differences
emerged over the number of loyalist fighters
leaving, a rebel source said, refusing to elaborate
as “negotiations are under way.” Thousands of evacuees from Madaya and
Zabadani were also stuck in government-
controlled Ramusa, south of Aleppo. The deal to evacuate the towns was the latest in a
string of such agreements, touted by the
government as the best way to end the fighting.
Rebels say they have been forced out by siege
and bombardment. The regime has retaken several key rebel
strongholds including eastern Aleppo since a
Russian military intervention in September 2015.