People displace from Syria’s Quneitra despite settlement agreement
DARAA, Syria (North Press) – The Syrian government displaced about 100 wanted people from the town of Umm Batnah in Quneitra countryside, southwest Syria, to northern Syria under the Russian auspices, local sources said on Thursday.
On May 15, an agreement was reached between the independent Central Committees in both Daraa and Quneitra and officers from the Syrian government which stipulated the ruling out of a military option for the town of Umm Batnah, private sources told North Press.
This came after officers from the Syrian government threatened to storm the town if ten wanted people, along with those wishing to go to north Syria with their families, were not expelled.
At the beginning of May, tension began in the town of Umm Batnah after an armed attack on a military post of government forces at Tel Krom Jaba, after which the government forces bombed the town with five mortar shells. Since then, the town has been witnessing a state of tension and displacement after government forces brought in military reinforcements that settled on the outskirts of the town.
The Syrian government accused the wanted of being responsible of the attacks.
It was agreed that the people wanted by the government would accept the option of exile to north Syria in exchange for the release of two detainees from the town held by the government forces, according to the source.
The displacement process is the first of its kind in the settlement regions, and most of the deportees are former members of opposition groups.
The Russian forces refused the negotiation committees’ request to “settle the wanted persons without deporting them,” according to the sources.