Title: Syria: Role of International Agreements in Forced Displacement (2)
Publisher: Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) and Synergy organization
Release date: 2023
It has been six years since the implementation of the Four Towns Agreement reached between armed factions and Iran in April 2017 with Qatari mediation. The Agreement, which provided for the evacuation of al-Zabadani and Madaya near Damascus, and the Shiite-majority Foua and Kafarya in northwest Syria, involved powerful non-state players including Lebanese Hezbollah, Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant/Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra (Al-Nusra) and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.
Surviving crippling years-long sieges, populations of the four towns dreamed of a better life but alas, the new reality brought them new forms of suffering.
Human rights activist, Ahmed Kwefati, from al-Zabadani currently residing in Idlib, northwestern Syria, described the impact of the Agreement on those forcibly displaced by it,
“We got separated from our families, friends, and relatives. We lost our property, jobs, and everything we built. We were forced to live away from everything we hoped for and loved.”
Abu Nidal, former director of the health authority in al-Zabadani, currently lives in Afrin, northwest Aleppo testified to STJ,
“Being uprooted from our land was the hardest thing for all of us. Our life here is miserable. The security situation and living conditions in the liberated areas are very poor. Those who do not have links with the armed factions suffer a difficult financial situation; I am the biggest example. We also suffer emotional instability due to the fact that our fate and that of the region hinges on international polarizations. What is disappointing is that our brothers in the Syrian National Army have become mercenaries in every sense of the word.”
Roaa (a pseudonym), an activist from Madaya currently residing in Idlib, confirmed that initially, civilians who were bussed from al-Zabadani and Madaya did not realize that they were evacuated under an agreement; their only concern was to escape the appalling humanitarian situation they were suffering under siege, where they died of hunger and diseases due to severe lack of food and medicine. Nevertheless, later they were shocked by this new bitter reality. Roaa recounted,
“Effects of any crime cannot be noticeable at first; the same goes for the Four Towns Agreement. When we arrived at Idlib we were so happy, but after a while, we were shocked by the reality here. Some people ended up wishing they stayed in the siege. This was mainly due to continued violations by the armed groups in control of the region.”
The situation of those who remained in al-Zabadani and Madaya is no better, due to poor security, drug trade – under the cover of Lebanese Hezbollah and the 4th Armoured Division –, and property seizures. Local sources confirmed that the Syrian Government (GOS) arbitrarily seizes the property of civilians, especially those arrested or prosecuted, under alleged charges of terrorism.
As for the displaced from Foua and Kafarya, their suffering is not less heavy despite the different circumstances and destinations of their displacement. Those displaced from the Shiite-majority Foua and Kafarya that were encircled by rebels’ Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah, spread into different regime-held areas including, Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Latakia, and Tartus. Notably, the two towns were fully evacuated from their original people.[1]