The Assad regime has dropped leaflets on the towns and villages of northern rural Homs on the last couple of days, threatening residents with intensified shelling and death if they refused to leave their homes. Regime forces look poised to force a new evacuation deal on local residents similar to the ones already forced on many areas across Syria, especially in Homs province and the Damascus suburbs.
Local activists said that the leaflets demanded that residents of the rebel-held northern rural Homs surrender or face the fate of the residents of Darya in Rural Damascus, the districts of Barzah, Tishreen, Qaboun in Damascus, and the district of Waer in Homs.
The activists pointed out that the Assad regime is employing the same tactic it used in other areas to force the local population to leave, through escalating bombardment and the targeting of civilians, health facilities, and public markets. The Assad regime has resorted to this tactic after it failed to retake the besieged area on many occasions.
President of the Syrian Coalition Riad Seif said that the forced displacement operations being carried out by the Assad regime constitute war crimes. He called on the United Nations to hold accountable those responsible for those crimes.
In Damascus, meanwhile, the last batch of residents of the district of Barzah in northeastern Damascus left towards Idlib and Aleppo provinces on Sunday after they were forced to agree to an evacuation deal in mid-May. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
