Aleppo: Terrorists Start Releasing Captured Syrian Soldiers

The Arabic language al-Watan newspaper reported that the first POW soldier was handed over to the Syrian army at the al-Amiriyeh checkpoint in the Southern part of the city on Tuesday.

The soldier spent over four years in captivity, and his release is the first step toward the implementation of the local ceasefire agreement.

In the meantime, the drivers of the buses that were arrested by Fatah al-Sham Front (previously known as the al-Nusra Front) and Ahrar al-Sham on their way to Fua’a and Kafraya to take the injured or patient civilians out of the two towns have been released.

The sources said that two inured people and two dead bodies were also sent back with the drivers that have been released.

On December 18, terrorists of Fatah al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham targeted vehicles heading to Fua’a and Kafraya. Many buses were burned and a number of drivers were held by the terrorists.

A security source disclosed earlier today that terrorists groups’ lack of commitment to an agreement on exit of injured civilians from two militant-held towns in Idlib pushed evacuation of militants and their families from the Eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo into suspension.

The source said that the terrorist groups that have laid siege on Fua’a and Kafraya towns in Northern Idlib once again violated the evacuation agreement’s terms, leaving negative impact on the trend of transferring militants and their families from Eastern Aleppo.

The Arabic language desk of Sputnik reported that only one bus could take the militants and their families out of Aleppo yesterday and after that evacuation operation was suspended.

The source further added that it was agreed that the last group of militants and their families leave Aleppo in return for evacuation of the injured and patient civilians on 8 buses from Fua’a and Kafraya, but terrorists prevent exit of buses carrying the injured and patients from the two towns in Idlib, violating the terms of the evacuation agreement.

The source went on to say that relevant officials are trying hard to pave the ground for the restart of civilian evacuation from Fua’a and Kafraya.

Based on the latest reports 15,500 militants and their families have thus far left Aleppo and the army has called for faster evacuation of militant from the Eastern neighborhoods to dispatch engineering units to defuse terrorist-planed bombs and mines in the newly-freed districts.