Russia guarantees re-opening of M4 highway to civilian traffic

North-Press Agency
Delsoz Youssef – Fattah Issa   

The co-chair of the Executive Council of the Euphrates Region, Muhammad Shahin, told North-Press that the M4 highway will be reopened to civilian movement next Monday, with a "Russian guarantee", while the co-chair of the Tel Tamr Council, Jiwan Ayoub, said that the highway will remain closed to commercial activity.   

As a result of the takeover by Turkey's armed opposition groups of parts of the highway, and their continued targeting of it, humanitarian transit movement stopped there. It was on this same highway that those groups executed the Secretary-General of the Future Syria Party Hevrin Khalaf in October last year.   

Shahin added that Monday's tour will be a test accompanied by Russian military police vehicles to ensure that these groups do not target civilians.

During his talk with North-Press, Ayoub added that Russian forces promised "to reopen the highway to civilian traffic, and the first tour will start next Monday at nine in the morning from Tel Tamr to Ain Issa, and another tour will return at the same time." It will still remain closed to commercial movement, but they will work to open it as a second step.

Locals were forced to take dangerous roads between Hasakah and Raqqa instead of the M4 highway, as a result of being targeted almost daily by Turkish-backed armed opposition groups.