UN evacuates 500 Syrian patients from besieged areas

By Selen Temizer and Khaled Sulayman

ANKARA

More than 500 Syrian patients have been evacuated from three towns and a village in Damascus and Idlib as part of a UN-sponsored mission, local sources said.

The sources, who spoke to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said on Wednesday that the UN helped evacuate 504 residents from the towns of Madaya and Zabadani in Damascus and the town of Fuah and the village of Kufriya

in Idlib.

Officials at Madaya’s health center told Anadolu Agency that only 34 patients out of 1,000 living in the town have been referred to hospitals in the Damascus metropolitan area.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric had earlier said that up to 500 sick and wounded people and their families would be evacuated from the towns of Madaya, Zabadani and Fuah and the village of Kufriya.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

By Selen Temizer and Khaled Sulayman

ANKARA

More than 500 Syrian patients have been evacuated from three towns and a village in Damascus and Idlib as part of a UN-sponsored mission, local sources said.

in Idlib.

Officials at Madaya’s health center told Anadolu Agency that only 34 patients out of 1,000 living in the town have been referred to hospitals in the Damascus metropolitan area.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric had earlier said that up to 500 sick and wounded people and their families would be evacuated from the towns of Madaya, Zabadani and Fuah and the village of Kufriya.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.