ALEPPO, Syria — Dozens of buses transporting detainees opposing the Syrian regime arrived in Idlib July 19 per an agreement between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Iranian negotiators. Under the deal, struck with Russian-Turkish supervision July 17, HTS evacuated fighters affiliated with the Syrian regime forces along with their families and civilians from al-Foua and Kefraya in the Idlib countryside. They had been besieged since 2015 by Jaish al-Fatah.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated July 19 that 120 buses left al-Foua and Kefraya with at least 6,900 people. The transportation operations took place over three phases, starting July 18. The buses headed to the crossing in al-Eiss in Aleppo’s southern countryside to enter the regime-held areas in southern Aleppo. Meanwhile, several buses transporting 1,500 detainees from Assad’s jails, including women, reached the opposition-held territories in Idlib province July 19.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights noted in another statement July 19 that hundreds of detainees who arrived at the opposition-held areas had been arrested in the months preceding the recent agreement. Sources told the Observatory that the regime's arrest campaign came as secret negotiations were taking place. The regime sought to use those arrested in the past two to three months to close the exchange deal between HTS and the Iranians, the source claimed. Meanwhile, dozens of protesters took to the streets of Idlib July 19, as citizens expressed their anger on finding that their arrested relatives who had been in the regime’s prisons for more than five years were not included in the exchange deal.

Imad al-Din Mujahid, the director of the HTS media office, told Al-Monitor, “The recent agreement between HTS and the Iranian enemy aims at protecting the area and expelling Iranian militias from it. The people, including civilian and military figures in the liberated Syrian north, supported this move. Negotiations regarding al-Foua and Kefraya began in 2015 and the agreement was implemented over stages. The current situation of the revolution necessitates closing this file.”