Sam Brennan // Population movement in Syria: the link between Idlib and Afrin | The Strategist

12.5.18

Population movement in Syria: the link between Idlib and Afrin | The Strategist: In 2015, Russian air power and foreign ground troops turned the tide of the Syrian civil war in President Bashar al-Assad’s favour. With superior armaments and the influx of veteran fighters, the government retook many rebel-held areas, along with their populations and fighters antagonistic to Assad’s rule. To avoid a perpetual low-level insurgency, the government began to move the rebel-aligned populations to Idlib in the country’s northeast.

Such population transfers quickly became the norm. After retaking the rebel enclave in the old city of Homs in May 2014, the Syrian government offered some 1,400 civilians and fighters safe passage to Idlib.

This set the tone for nearly every settlement that followed. Once the government retook a rebel-held area, it allowed remaining rebel-aligned civilians and fighters to move to Idlib. In March 2018 alone, the province received some 10,000 fighters and civilians. At the same time, Assad filled the newly empty rebel-held areas with populations loyal to him, many of whom had fled from rebel militias elsewhere in Syria.