Twists in Qusair evacuation plan spark confusion

Twists in Qusair evacuation plan spark confusionJune 14, 2013 01:40 AMBy Lauren Williams

The Daily Star

This video grab, posted on June 10, shows rebels carrying a wounded man from Qusair toward Buwayda. (The Daily Star/Qusair Lens, videograb)

BEIRUT: A chaotic picture has emerged of the collapse in part of a deal between Hezbollah, the Syrian army and rebel forces to secure safe passage for wounded people from Qusair last week following the defeat of opposition forces in the strategic town. An fierce assault last Wednesday by Syrian forces, backed by Hezbollah, saw rebels withdraw from the town, close to the Lebanese border, after two weeks of intense battle.

The rebels announced their withdrawal, citing a massacre at the hands of the Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters. Yet, with no details of casualty figures, confusion has surrounded the timing of the decision and how hundreds of wounded civilians and fighters appeared to make a relatively clean evacuation from the town, with some even making it to Lebanon.

As survivors began to emerge this week following the evacuation, details of the deal – struck by Hezbollah with the help of Lebanese political figures to secure safe passage for the injured fighters and civilians – are coming to light, along with rebel accusations of a breach of the cease-fire.

Political sources have confirmed that Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt coordinated an agreement with Hezbollah forces to secure safe passage for the wounded rebels and civilians trapped inside Qusair.

The sources said Jumblatt called Hezbollah’s head of liaison and coordination committee, Wafiq Safa, on the night of June 4 and was told a road was open for the wounded and civilians to the northeast of Qusair, to the village of Buwayda.

Previously, the Syrian government had refused Red Cross and Red Crescent access to the village until military operations were complete.

But the day after Jumblatt’s call, opposition activist and U.N. officials confirmed several thousand wounded people – rebels and civilians – from Qusair were holed up in Buwayda to the northeast and in villages further east, toward Homs.

In the days following the withdrawal, rebel fighters and civilians have described a perilous three-day journey along the Buwayda corridor in an attempt to flee to Homs and on toward Damascus.

After coming under bombardment by regime forces on the route, however, they told The Daily Star they believed they fell into a trap after learning of the deal.

“For sure the only exit was to Buwayda and Homs, through five or six checkpoints,” Abu Hussein, a leader with the Al-Magawier Brigade, said from Tripoli, where he was recuperating.

On Tuesday night, Abu Hussein said he spoke with Red Cross officials who assured the Free Syrian Army fighters that a deal had been struck with Hezbollah to secure passage for the wounded north to Buwayda.

“They told us there was a deal, between Naim Qassem [Hezbollah’s deputy leader] and the Red Cross, but I saw the rockets fall on us with my own eyes,” he said. “We knew there was no deal, but we had no other choice.”

Hussein described two days on foot, with fighters from various rebel brigades carrying the wounded, as they came under attack close to checkpoints at Hassaniyeh and again, close to Shamsine, on the Homs-Damascus highway.

“They opened fire on us from three checkpoints, with machine guns, on the Homs-Damascus freeway near Shamsine. More than 100 people fell and there were many, many wounded,” he said, claiming rockets were fired from positions that he believed to be Hezbollah.

“The Syrian army knew we were coming so they sent reinforcements. This was not a normal checkpoint. That’s why I don’t trust this deal at all.”

Hussein admitted that the group, which he claimed had originally consisted of some 10,000 people, contained many rebel fighters, but insisted that none of them had attacked the checkpoints first, as per the terms of the agreement to transfer the wounded.

“The Free Syrian Army was there to carry the wounded and prepare the road. How can the wounded defend and travel themselves?” he asked.

“But we never targeted checkpoints, we didn’t fire a single bullet. We are fighters, but that isn’t a reason to target us.”

He blames the Farouk Brigade – one of the largest and most prominent rebel groups formed in the revolutionary center of Homs early on in the uprising – for luring the group in to a trap.

“We trusted Farouk and they let us down. They should have fired back when we were fired on. They were supposed to provide safe passage and they failed,” Abu Hussein said.

Hezbollah and opposition sources have confirmed a tacit agreement was struck to ensure safe passage for the elderly, women and children.

The agreement, they said, included passage for FSA fighters, provided they withdraw in a first stage to Buwayda and then to mountainous areas of Qalamoun, in the northern Damascus countryside, close to the Lebanon border.

However, when the first stage of the withdrawal was completed, rebels say Syrian army forces stormed to Buwayda, besieging FSA fighters in the village and preventing them from implementing the second stage of the agreement.

Hezbollah sources said that officers in the Syrian army had rejected the deal, claiming confrontation between the rebels and the army had reached such a degree of hostility that each side sought only the total eradication of the other.

They said the breach of the agreement had caused immense confusion among the civilians and FSA fighters, leading to total chaos during the fighting in Buwayda and a large number of FSA casualties.

On June 7, after reports of continued fighting in Buwayda, where hundreds of the rebels and wounded remained holed up, the army announced it had taken the village, cementing complete control of the Qusair area.

Amid the chaos, some hundreds of fighters did appear to make it to Qalamoun, and on to Lebanon.

Security sources said the Syrian Red Cross, on June 8, transported dozens of wounded from Qarrah, on the Syrian side of the border, through the Bekaa Valley, and on to local hospitals in Lebanon, where they were handed over to the Lebanese Red Cross.

It was not clear under what part of the agreement the wounded fighters were permitted to enter Lebanon, or where they would go next.

Hussein, the fighter, said those that entered Lebanon all did so via Qalamoun, according to the plan.

Speaking from Yabrud, opposition activist Riffai Tammas, who joined the initial withdrawal, described the evacuation as “chaos.”

“I was staying as long as the [FSA] were staying, so once they decided to leave, I left with them. The decision was taken in midafternoon Tuesday,” he said via Skype.

“A lot of FSA groups left Tuesday night but I stayed with the Farouk Brigade which did not leave till there was nobody [left] behind. They wanted to tell everybody that they did not want to leave but had no choice.

“They did not assure anybody. We heard rumors of a deal, to clear certain checkpoints, but there was chaos. Nobody knew what was happening.”

He said the group, numbering over 1,000, took a back road toward Buwayda: “We were heading east toward the suburbs of Damascus and we came under attack near every checkpoint.

“We came under severe attack when we were crossing the death opening, close to the Homs-Damascus highway [near Shamsine].”

With no food and water and, travelling with wounded, he said the group became separated and confused. His brother was among those killed along the way.

“We lost our way many times and we got so close to being captured by regime forces.”

“I still don’t know how I survived.” – Additional reporting by Rakan Fakih

 

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on June 14, 2013, on page 8.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Jun-14/220340-twists-in-qusair-evacuation-plan-spark-confusion.ashx#ixzz2WBGvhgW3 
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