Dozens Killed as Blast Strikes Convoy Carrying Evacuated Syrians
By BEN HUBBARD and HWAIDA SAADAPRIL 15, 2017
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Dozens of people were killed in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday when a car bomb struck a group of buses carrying residents
and fighters who had been evacuated from two besieged towns the day before.
About 5,000 people, including 1,300 fighters, had been bused out of Fouaa
and Kfarya, two Shiite villages in Idlib Province that are loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian Observatory said some buses had been allowed to move,
and state news media said the first buses carrying Shiites had reached government-held areas.
By midday Saturday, both convoys had reached the city of Aleppo,
and the Shiites were waiting to be allowed to enter government-held territory while the Sunnis were waiting to go to rebel-held Idlib Province.
More than 2,000 people, including 400 fighters, had been bused out of Madaya, a predominately
Sunni town near the border with Lebanon that had long been held by rebels.
Most of the dead were residents of two Shiite villages in Idlib Province that have been surrounded by Islamist Sunni rebels for about two years.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which opposes the government
and tracks the war from Britain through contacts in Syria, said at least 43 people were killed.