Substantial movement of civilians after the opening of Deir Balout crossing between Afrin and Idlib
North-Press Agency
After it was closed last Sunday, the Deir Balout crossing between Afrin and Idlib, northwestern Syria, was re-opened on Thursday and is witnessing a substantial movement of civilians.
The crossing links the areas controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Idlib with areas under the control of Turkish-backed armed groups, and is located between the southwestern corner of Afrin in the western countryside of Aleppo and the northeastern corner of Idlib governorate.
At the beginning of April, the Turkish-backed opposition Salvation Government-affiliated General Administration of Crossings announced the closure of Deir Balout and Ghazawiye crossings due to coronavirus.
The crossing is under the control of HTS, which has reopened it to civilians with a new entry and exit mechanism, according to the official page of Deir Balout crossing on social media.
Three days were specified for entry from Afrin into Idlib (Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday) and exit days from Idlib into Afrin are on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, while it is closed completely on Friday.
The Darat Izza – Ghazawiye crossing remains open to commercial traffic for all types of vehicles (large and small), and it is the crossing point between the areas under the control of Turkish-backed armed groups in Afrin from the southern side, and HTS and the armed groups in Idlib governorate from the northern side.
In its statement issued on Thursday, the team of the Syria Response Coordinators (a local organization concerned with Idlib IDPs), indicated that the number of returnees to their areas, from the start of the ceasefire on March 6th until April 16th, reached 119,583, spread across the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib, which is far from contact lines with the Syrian government forces.
This number is part of the 1,041,233 IDPs displaced during the recent military operations from November 2019 to March 2020.
As a result, the Afrin region, which is under the control of Turkish forces and their affiliated armed opposition groups, witnessed a large wave of displacement from the southern and eastern areas of Idlib and the southern and western countryside of Aleppo.