Alwaght- Scores of hostages abducted by terrorists in northwestern Syria as well as some critically ill patients from the terrorist-besieged towns of Kefraya and al-Foua reached army lines on Tuesday, launching a deal for militants to quit an enclave south of Damascus.
State news agency SANA said 42 people were freed in the first step of the agreement, arriving in government territory at al-Ees corridor south of Aleppo city, Syria's official news agency SANA reported on Tuesday.
Women, children, and men including some soldiers wept and hugged on the bus, live on state TV, adding they were then taken to Aleppo hospitals for medical checkups prior to transporting them to their relatives later.
Militants had kidnapped the people in Estabraq village in rural Idlib as they swept into the province three years ago.
Twenty-three people also arrived at the al-Ees crossing from Kefraya and al-Foua, two Shiite-inhabited towns in rural Idlib that are bearing the plights of a three-year siege deep into the areas held by the Syrian militants al-Nusra Front terrorists.
South of Damascus, buses shuttled 200 militants and relatives out of the Yarmouk enclave under the swap between the government and militants, SANA said.
"Liberating the abductees and evacuating the humanitarian cases was carried out in parallel with the exit of 5 buses transporting 200 terrorists from al-Yarmouk Camp, south of Damascus."
The fleet arrived at the same crossing near Aleppo in the early hours. The Militants from al-Qaeda linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, would go to Idlib in the northwest near the Turkish border.
President Bashar al-Assad’s military and its allies have pushed to crush the last insurgent footholds around the capital Damascus through a string of offensives and withdrawal deals.
The pocket south of Damascus includes zones held by ISIS and others by militant groups. It has been the focus of intense fighting since the Syrian army recaptured eastern Ghouta last month with Iranian and Russian help.
The evacuation deal for Tahrir al-Sham to surrender also includes allowing people to leave two pro-government Shi’ite villages, which the insurgents have encircled in Idlib.
