The local councils in the towns of Kafarzeita and Latamina in northern rural Hama slammed announcement by the Assad regime about the opening of a so-called humanitarian passage for civilians trapped in the two towns to leave. The councils stressed that all residents of the two towns had already fled to escapee the brutal bombardment by regime forces and their allied militias.
“The Assad regime claimed the opening of a humanitarian crossing in the town of Souran, north of Hama, to evacuate civilians trapped in the two towns, the local councils said in a statement on Thursday. “We confirm that there are no civilians in the towns which have been subjected to relentless bombardment and shelling since 2011. The bombardment destroyed 90 percent of the towns and their infrastructure.”
The statement added that “the last remaining people in the towns left a few days ago when regime forces began encircling the region, adding that the regime’s claims of the opening of a humanitarian passage were suggested by regime agents in the city of Hama.
The local council in Latamina issued a similar statement stressing that there were no civilians in the town. It said that the town’s population of 30,000 have been displaced since 2011 as a result of the relentless bombardment and shelling by the Assad regime and its allies which left more than 95 percent of the town in ruins.
The council described the regime’s claims about the opening of the humanitarian passage as a farce. “The regime intends to bring Shabiha from the city of Hama to the town in yet a new episode of lies and deception which it has always used with the aim of legitimizing its plots.”
The statement called on the peoples of Kafarzeita, Latamina, and Morek as well as all the free people in Syria to hold demonstrations and sit-ins in front of the US and Russian embassies to express rejection of the regime’s capture of these towns.
The two local councils called upon the Turkish guarantor to commit to its pledges to not allow the Assad regime forces to recapture the region. They expressed outright rejection of any agreement to hand over their towns to the Assad regime. (Source: Syrian National Coalition’s Media Department)
