The Assad regime forces detained about 25 civilians near the town of Aqiribat in eastern rural Hama, including women and children, as they were trying to flee to the areas under the control of the Free Syrian Army.
The civilians were stopped while they were travelling on the road linking the towns of Sabboura and Alsie’n, said Fahd Mousa, head of the board of the Syrian Organization for the Release of Detainees.
Mousa told Smart News Network that the detainees had not any links to the ISIS extremist group or to any rebel group in the area, adding that his group documented the names of 12 detainees.
Residents of the ISIS-held town of the Aqiribat, which is encircled by regime forces, are trying to flee to the areas under the control of the FSA groups through the Wadi Alazeeb valley. Mousa said that some of these civilians are being held by regime forces who are besieging the town.
Regime forces earlier killed 10 civilians and detained 11 others, including children and women, while they were trying to flee from eastern rural Hama to the liberated areas in Idlib province.
The Free Hama Provincial Council in early September appealed to the international community to put pressure on regime forces to open safe corridors for civilians to leave the besieged town. It is estimated that about 8,000 civilians are still trapped in Aqiribat, mostly women and children. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
