Bethlehem—Ma’an: The director of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s political department in Syria said implementation of the agreement for armed groups to leave Yarmouk camp and Al-Hajar Al-Aswad had stalled because of Zahran Alloush’s killing and technical reasons.
Alloush was killed the previous Friday in an airstrike targeting Jaysh Al-Islam leaders in Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus.
Anwar Abdel Hadi confirmed: “Yes, Alloush’s assassination is one of the reasons.”
He told Ma’an that departures had not begun and would require time—possibly days or weeks—until the route north was secured.
ISIS, Al-Nusra, Jaysh Al-Islam, and other fighters were scheduled to withdraw to Raqqa, ISIS’s stronghold, and Idlib, the stronghold of Jaysh Al-Fatah.
Abdel Hadi said there were around 1,700 fighters, rising to 3,500 people when their families were included.
The agreement was the first of its kind to include ISIS.